The unique banding in the one one-piece desisgn comes from the many layers being twisted very tightly together at the end of the welding process and when the metal is close to white hot. These particular blades are made from railway steel and another, higher carbon steel being forced together under extreme temperature and pressure - either by press or hammer. Sufficient differences in fact to start whole wars on blade smithing forums so not going there. Pattern-welded steel is often somewhat erroneously referred to as 'Damascus steel' but there are notable differences in production techniques, chemical composition and metallurgy in a historical sense. Had to add a little grain in post - looked a bit too sterile :-)Ī a trio of pattern-welded blades by Pete Mattila of Hobart. This is known as a 'wire edge.' When an even wire forms along the full length of the edge and which eventually 'fluffs' off, it's getting close to pretty sharp. It's hypnotic - concentration is essential!Īs more material is removed and the edge moves into the realm of sharp, a thin feather of metal will form on the upside of the edge. Fine control is necessary as is consistency of pressure on the the belt. First one side of the blade and then the other. A smooth, firm, consistent, arcing, stroke across the belt is required. In Pete's shop we run a linisher/polisher fitted with a very fine belt in reverse allowing a little more control over the angle of the bevel. Techniques vary immensely and this is but one method. One of the last few steps in finishing a hand-forged blade (or any blade really) is laying down the final bevel ready for the sharpening stones. Lots of direct light and plenty of deep blacks and highlights. Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 24-200/4-6.3, 1/125th sec at f/7.1, ISO 1000įor a photographer, the forge is full of rich pickings. I've drawn loosely on the Zulu assegai for the leaf shape of the blade along with it being almost double-edged and carrying maximum blade thickness through the upper third of the form in a line corresponding to the tang-to-tip lateral. I'm still in the process of applying a finishing coat to the handle and will post one of the completed knife one day :-) Once the blade had cooled, it was over to the long process of polishing prior to fitting the handle. This last step ensures the back of the knife is flexible while the edge is nice and hard. ![]() The colours visible in the photo correspond to the temperature of the metal and watching the distinct colour line ensures an even heat can be applied where it's needed before a final quench. ![]() When cool enough to handle, the blade was again run over the linisher to further finesse the shape before again tempering the tool by running over the back of the blade with the torch (this pic). That completed, I've further roughed out the overall shape by grinding out the pits and scale of hammer-forging before the blade was heated to light orange and quench-hardened in sump oil. Resulting billet is then roughed out with the power hammer then coaxed into approximate shape with hammer and anvil. Pretty standard blade-making steels used in the welding (51n) but instead of hammer or press, the two different steels have been twisted together when nearly white hot. Full on advanced blade-smithing using pattern welded steel. Back in the forge with Pete Mattilla this last weekend.
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