For those that enjoy a sharp piece of Steel

[basilfarmer]

those are just beautiful Flub. there's something about that folder that ya just cant take your eyes off it. and d2 to boot.

This is by Philip Patton and I love the design, but I've heard bad things about L6 steel

 

[Don Cotyle]

WOW!!! Where to start?

basilfarmer those Scandinavian blades are nice! I really like their choice to use natural material for the scales-handles! The smal caper is sweet! The 2 long bladed knives look like they would work great on a large salmon or seal even!

Kallen your a trip man!!! So you use that Katana to harvest your trees? HAHAhahaha!!!

cellardweller thats quite the collection you've got there! I had alot more but many were lost in a house fire back in 94. I'm also into the straight razors and prefer a 7/8 with curved edges!

Genkisan excellent links!!! I'll be spending some time going thru those!!!

flubnuts those look great, I really like the mammoth scales, just about all you can get in the states legally anymore!

Here's my Marintine Bowie it's 16 1/2" oal with a 10 1/2" blade with a full length fuller cut into the blade to lighten it, the width is just over 3/16ths". The full tang is surrounded with camel bone scales and a heavy brass pomel and guards, the weight is in the handle where you want it! Im showing it with the pair of blackpowder Remington New Army 1885s in stainless!



basilfarmer ya snuck one in there while I was posting! I like that design also!

 

[cellardweller]

Celler, Not to be a dickhead, but aren't you worried about it shooting open inside your pocket?
---------------------------------------------------------

Absolutely not. I can honestly say that I don't carry the Protech side opener too often for that reason, but the Microtech is one knife that only opens when I want it to. Rock solid lockup every time. I really would like to get my hands on Benchmades new OTF opener, "The Infidel" but it is on backorder for a looong looong time..
I'll see if I can get a pic of it..
edit: heres that pic. she is a true beauty, and if its even half as dependable as my other Benchmade, then it's worth every penny.


Nice link gen! I have been there a few times..
another edit: Im home stoned and bored so I figured I'd load up some steel..
I have also been to the Craft of Bladesmithing site . These are more along the lines I like, but am not able to afford.












All of these blades shown here are very nice pieces, especially the work done by Virgil England.

basil, that was quite the rant. what the hell are you smokin these days?

peaceandpot
~cellard

 

[flubnutz]

gerber mk II between an M3 trench knife an a fairbairn sykes commando knife:

i heard they used to sell em in the pxs in nam until the brass started feeling it was a little too ghoulish. mean looking knife.

 

[Bababooey]

CD: I remember those katanas. at the time i couldnt tell whether they were cheapo ones or expensive ones. are they made out of a single piece of steel?
i didnt know what an otf knife was so i looked it up on youtube and holy cow i want one. theyre illegal in IL so i couldnt carry it but u gotta love the classic switchblade.
love those virgil knives also, straight out of a fantasy painting. does he have any with runes etched on the blade? little bit of gold and precious stones on the hilt?

BF: I know what you mean. i think many icmaggers share libertarian ideals: if you're not hurting anyone you should be left alone. isnt dj short's motto:
1. life should be lived to its fullest enjoyment.
1a. not to the detriment of another.
?
I dont think anarchangel is really anti-mj. the only anti-mj comment he made was when he went with his wife to the apple store for the new iphone 3G and there were two young guys there who looked stoned and he thought they were idiots. i guess his philosophy is: if im not going out drunk in public, why should these guys be stoned in public? eh, different strokes for different folks. i still love his blog, some of the most informative gun articles on the internet...
id like to think a lot of icmaggers are pro 2A people. very independent folks here, exercising their rights, even the ones denied to them unjustly by the government (the right to grow a plant)...


FN: gotta love an arkansas toothpick! i wonder if anyone's actually tried picking their teeth with one....
is that real mammoth ivory? what did that knife cost, like a thousand dollars? thats one you keep in the case, if it is...

DC: you've been saving the best for last. with that bowie and the 1885's looks like youre set to reenact the battle of the Alamo.
Where's the lever action?
great, great looking collection. that bowie's a work of art. are those 1885's breakopen?

 

[Don Cotyle]

Hi Bababooey, I sure did every piece I've shown is owned by me! Their the old style that load with the leaver from the front of the cylinder. Theres a co. that now makes a replaceable cylinder so you can shoot .45 colt(theres no such thing as long colt, it's a nickmane only that arose when the .45acp came out) by removeing the cylinder and the top half of same and loading,the top still looks like a cap and ball but the nipples are individual fireing pins, slick!

 

[basilfarmer]

Cellerdweller lol I kinda got mad, we just had an election up here and our priminister is a rightwing police-state camel scrotum, sorry to go way off topic

right on Bab, I was just thinking about Djs signature that day, and you're right, many peopls r refreshingly libertarian here

Don, that bowie is awsome, you have quite the collection. I like your guns too.

The first three are some 'rain drop' damascus blades for my bro Wonderon, who loves damascus

 

[cellardweller]

Baba, yes they are of a one piece construction and not the cheap-o knockoffs. Full tang and fully functional. Took out an 8 inch sapling without even marring the blade save for some sap which wiped right off.
As far as carryin an OTF, only you know whats in yer pocket..or your boot..

As nice as those Damascus blades are, you guys all know they arent true damascus steel right? It's all acid etched into the blade..still nice to look at though..

 

[genkisan]

As nice as those Damascus blades are, you guys all know they arent true damascus steel right? It's all acid etched into the blade..still nice to look at though..

Sorry cellerdweller, but yer wrong on that one.



My Damascus knives, all the Virgil England stuff and as far as I can see the others posted are all laminated blades made from two different steels forge-welded together and then manipulated to create different patterning. The acid etching is merely to bring out the colors of the two steels, as they oxidize differently.

This is called mechanically laminated Damascus, which is different from the original Damascus steel made famous by the Saracens, which is also referred to as wootz steel. It too is available, but is much much harder to make, and there are only a few smiths doing it today.


I know this because I have been reading about laminated blades for 20 years and have made some 1095/L6 laminated billets myself. Hva enot shaped them into blades yet, but they worked.

 

[genkisan]

This is EDM mosaic Damascus..the dragons and other designs are cut by electro-discharge machining using one kind of steel to make a 'male' billet, and the other steel to make a 'female' billet. The male is them slipped into the female and forge-welded into a solid piece. That's the EDM part.
These individual design billets are then remachined smooth and forge-welded together...That's the mosaic part
This is all to create the billet blanks that are then crafted in to a knife like the one below:

Pierre Reverdy is another master of this technique, here is a link to some awesome photos in PDF:
http://www.saviolopublisher.com/files/Reverdy.pdf

And here is some colored mosaic Damascus...the color effect is gotten by very precise heat and mineral salt treatment:

None of the designs you see above are merely surface effects...they are made with two or more types of steel forge-welded into a solid billet and then etched to bring out the patterns, which go right thru the billet.

The labour and skill involved in making Damascus and especially mosaic Damascus is reflested in the pricing.....work at the level of that dragon blade at the top of this post goes for $1000-1500 USD per inch of finished blade length.

 

[Bababooey]

DC: So as usual i dont know what the hell your talking about and i look it up on youtube and wikipedia and find out how awesomely cool that gun is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSOo-zY0_lc

In this video you see the guy load in the powder, the cotton, the ball and the cap. it looks cool but slow as hell...

But the wiki entry says that by the civil war, most of these revolvers were loaded with paper combustible cartridges. only had to drop the cartridge in, seat it with the lever, and then drop a cap in. still slow but much faster than powder, cotton, ball and cap...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Model_1858
by 1868 they had cartridge versions of the revolver.

and you can swap out the cylinder for .45 colt cartridges? so u can essentially make it into a Colt Peacemaker? good buy...

BF: nice pics, as usual. you must have a subscription to niceknives.com

CD: that OTF is the classic switchblade, cool as hell, but at almost $400 new its only a dream for now. someday...

GK: We know what you look like now. you're the guy wearing the welder's mask, with a hammer in one hand and an arc-welder in the other....
have you met any of the smiths who still know how to make wootz steel? sounds like if anyone has, it'd be you. is it a big secret how they do it? does the mosaic method make blades just as strong?

 

[cellardweller]

Thanks for the correction gen. But all I was tring to say about the Damascus blades that are out now, is that they arent the true form of Damascus steel. As you have stated, it's done with the Electronic Displacement Machine and acid. I dont think they had that stuff in early blacksmithing history..but I could be wrong..

 

[genkisan]

Thanks for the correction gen. But all I was tring to say about the Damascus blades that are out now, is that they arent the true form of Damascus steel. As you have stated, it's done with the Electronic Displacement Machine and acid. I dont think they had that stuff in early blacksmithing history..but I could be wrong..

No no no....the EDM is used merely to cut out the precise designs such as the dragons on the dragon knife. Here is a pic of some Pierre Reverdy's work done in this manner....you can see the 'male' and 'female' pieces being slid one into the other. The block is the 'female'and the scrollwork is the 'male' They are then forge welded together.

There are two basic kinds of Damascus.......mechanically laminated (or pattern welded) and wootz.


Mechanically laminated blades are made by forge-welding pieces of two or more different kinds of steel together and then folding, bending and twisting to manipulate the patterning. The surface is then etched to bring out the pattern, which becomes apparent as the two types of steel oxidize differently.

This kind of steel has been used for many many centuries....among other the Vikings were known for this technique....the swords found at Sutton Hoo are laminated thusly....it is also known as pattern welding. Mosaic Damascus is merely a composite billet made up of other Damascus billets instead of plates of plain steel.

Here is a good pic of the stacked plates of different metals being heated prior to forge welding them into a solid billet.:

Wootz steel is a crucible steel, and was first made in India as early as 200-300 BC. This is the steel originally refered to as "Damascus". Here is a good accurate article from Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel

 

[Don Cotyle]

Hey Bababooey, Yep slow but sure! I use a method where I fill the chamber after puting in the blackpowder with corn starch then a wonder-wad and finally seat the lead ball! This seats the ball at the very end of the cylinder, this way theres no jump from the cylinder to the forceing cone! It greatly improves acuracy!!! The wonder-wads keep the spark from jumping, from one chamber to the next, a very bad thing cause you don't want multiple chambers to ignite at once! Bad juju!!!

Those Damascas blades are sweet basilfarmer!

Genkisan I've never seen that process before, it's amazeing they way they can shape the steel to make those designs! I'd love to have one designed and made!!!

 

[Bababooey]

GK: Thanks for the info on the different types of damascus steel. most of it was over my head though. you said you've trained in some of the methods?
i'd like to see a video of the process if there is one...

DC: What's the purpose of putting cornstarch in the powder? to make a less powerful charge?
can you put a hollowpoint bullet in there? a jacketed one? because of the way you load it, would you say it's as accurate as any modern pistol? not as fast, of course, because of the single action, and heavier too than most modern pistols, but for a gun whose design is 150 years old, it's still a formidable weapon...
do you do any cowboy action shooting?

 

[cellardweller]

That is way cool!! I would love to see some real thin sativa leafs where the scrollwork is..now that would be a blade I would buy!!

 

[Wonderon]

Some nice knives here, I'd be happy to own any of them. I don't happen to have any Damascus though, and the only one I've considered buying was a Puma which was recently . They are truly some pieces of art but yes the good ones are a tad more expensive then I'd like to be spending on a knife, I use what I buy so... I have learned a few good things about them just following this thread, thanks for the info all. Hey basilfarmer, thanks for drawing my attention here, its got me wanting to spend some more money on knives , oh and its wonderon, not wonderton Thanks man!

 

[CTSV]

I have a Puma Corporal. Small pocket knife, but a great knife.

The knife I carry around is a Microtech Scarab OTF.

 

[genkisan]

Home sick with der squirts, so finally had time to put up some pics of me Damascus blades.

Here is a nice bottom lock folder in 15N20 and 1095 with about 600+ layers in ladder pattern. I didn't like the buffalo horn handle scales, so am making my own out of snakewood.

Here is an imitation Laguiole style folder...no lock, but a very strong spring. Also in 15N20 and 1095 with 500+ layers in a mixed ladder and raindrop pattern. It's good for food, carving, spreading BHO (note der golden stains) and the like. The scales are walnut.

Here is my favorite, even though I have yet to learn how to use it. It's a 10" throwing knife about 1/4 inch thick, made again out of 15N20 and 1095 with about 400-500 layers in raindrop pattern. Fucker is heavy and menacing, and could probably go thru a car door if tossed by a real pro.

And here's the kicker.....all three of these knives were bought on Ebay for less than $150 CAD combined.
If you are not buying from known mastersmiths and don't mind a slightly less than perfect finish, the stuff on Ebay is great...just search Damascus steel. And if you find anything and wanna buy it, feel free to PM me and ask me to check it out...I know a bit about what steels are worth buying, what hardness is desirable, etc...

This is a billet I made a few years ago in my forge, which has been packed away in storage for a long time....I do not have the place nor the time to use it now, but did get a chance to try it out. I got as far as forge welding some L6 and 1094 into billets, and folding and rewelding. The billet below is 14 layers, and still needs to be worked on. You can see what looks like a crack to the right of the center of the pic...that is slag caught in between the layers and is called a "cold shut" and will ruin a billet.
First thing I have to do when I get back to this piece is reweld that cold shut. That is done by heating the billet, coating it with boric acid powder (flux) and then getting up to welding temps. That's about a nice bright banana color or hotter, and the flux should run like melted butter. Then you take out the billet, lay it flat on the anvil and smack the crap out of it at at the cold shut, and the force of the blow squirts out the liquid flux and the slag, and makes a clean weld.

Enjoy der pics...I'm going to go crawl into bed.....

 

[Don Cotyle]

Hey Bababooey! I don't add the corn starch to the powder but on top of the powder to fill the chamber, it causes the bullet to seat at the very end of the chamber so theirs no jump to the forceing cone= more accurate! If you can find the round to fit it'll work, but you have to be carefull of the added weight it could increase the c.u.p. pressures to dangerour measures! However there are many bullet moulds that you can to make your own by pouring lead, those are better because they are closer to the size and weight of those that can be used! It's extreemly accurate once you've worked up a load and found a projectile it "likes", they arn't as powerfull as the modern handguns except for the Dragoon or Walker bp pistles which use substancially higher charges! I never got into SASS or CASS shooting but they just started a place not 10 miles down the road from me so when I get back to work I'm gonna look into it, dues,costume,weapons, etc. it can become an expensive shooting sport rather quickly!

I'd have to go as Doc Holiday