looks kinda nice. fotos can be a bit deceiving tho. please send this to me so i can get a better look at it. i'll gladly cover the shipping fees.
Engraving the Lindsay Damascus Palm Control
- Thread starter Barry Lee Hands
- Start date
I remain Jealous!!
KevinCunningham
Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2022
- Messages
- 74
I
The simplest way is to alternate a stack of the metals and forge weld them into a striped billet. This can be forged into shape and when ground and polished will reveal some topographical pattern as a result of forging distortion. There are a ton of ways to manipulate this pattern in the initial making of your billet from twisting to grinding away areas then re-flattening. The fanciest is ‘mosaic’ damascus where the billet is cut into tiles then re-forge welded together to make a bar where the end grain of your pattern becomes a repeat tile.
After forging and polishing, and here comes the part that applies more to finishes engravers would use, the standard method is to etch the piece in ferric chloride, which is resisted by the nickel bearing alloy. This can give a texture but initially gives a black/white contrast that’s not very durable. Hardened steel gives the best contrast.
Coffee etching is the new standard (& food safe!) for high contrast damascus cutlery. An overnight soak in very strong instant coffee gives a rich black to the non-nickel steel.
I hope that helps and Barry that handpiece is over the top gorgeous!!!!
I make damascus for forged knives. In non-hardened tool steel you can use different materials like low carbon mild steel or iron but the best contrast for common knife maker processes is 1084 which is a simple carbon steel, alternated with 15n20 which is a carbon steel with nickel. 15n20 is an alloy commonly used in bandsaw blades. 1095 can also be used but tends to etch more gray than black.
The simplest way is to alternate a stack of the metals and forge weld them into a striped billet. This can be forged into shape and when ground and polished will reveal some topographical pattern as a result of forging distortion. There are a ton of ways to manipulate this pattern in the initial making of your billet from twisting to grinding away areas then re-flattening. The fanciest is ‘mosaic’ damascus where the billet is cut into tiles then re-forge welded together to make a bar where the end grain of your pattern becomes a repeat tile.
After forging and polishing, and here comes the part that applies more to finishes engravers would use, the standard method is to etch the piece in ferric chloride, which is resisted by the nickel bearing alloy. This can give a texture but initially gives a black/white contrast that’s not very durable. Hardened steel gives the best contrast.
Coffee etching is the new standard (& food safe!) for high contrast damascus cutlery. An overnight soak in very strong instant coffee gives a rich black to the non-nickel steel.
I hope that helps and Barry that handpiece is over the top gorgeous!!!!
Dave, Will you engrave is side plate? J.J.
I considered it, but no. English fine scroll would be appropriate but I figured it and the damascus would cancel each other out. Plus, I didn't have the confidence to do a good job. It seemed to be very "crumbly" from layer to layer and I don't engrave often enough to tackle it.
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