Description
No prior experience is needed and the class will guide you through:
- Choosing steels that will produce a good pattern.
- Making up a billet (stacked layers of alternating types of steel forge welded together).
- Use of flux when forge welding damascus steel by hand.
- Welding in a reducing atmosphere in a gas forge, so called “bare back welding.”
- Use of the power hammer and power press. I have a very well equipped forge with numerous power hammers and presses.
- Pattern manipulation by twisting, and surface manipulations (grinding or forging into the bar to expose layers).
- Etching to reveal the pattern.
Damascus steel is my passion and I am very happy to be offering this course, as it is one of those things that is much easier to do when someone who knows how to do it shows you. A couple of days of tuition can literally save you months of wasted time!
Over the 2 days we will make a random pattern billet and a twisted pattern billet.
I do not believe in welding up scrap when teaching people damascus. During this course we will not make finished knives. We make damascus billets (damascus material) and manipulate them and size them for you to use on subsequent projects or classes.
If you wish to make a knife from your damascus, the 3 Day Kitchen knife course would be perfect to forge your damascus billets into finished kitchen knives.
This class runs 9am – 5pm but may continue later if needed.
