Damascus Steel Kitchen Knives Part 1-3

Forging the steel - Day 1

For my 60th birthday, my wife Louise bought me a course at the Tharwa Valley Forge in Canberra for a 3 day Damascus kitchen knife making course to make 2 knives. This is a description of the process.

Our Damascus steel was made by using alternating layers of 1075 and 15N20 steel with 9 layers, with the thicker 1075 on the outside. The steel blanks are ground to a clean and shiny surface using the belt grinders before being cleaned with acetone, stacked and welded together to make our first billet.

The billets are then dipped in kerosene which provides a flux that removes oxygen between the layers of steel as it enters the forge. The billet is heated in the forge until it reaches critical temperature at about 1250 centigrade with a bright yellow white colour.

When the steel has reached temperature, it is placed lengthways in the press to squash the billet evenly at 1500 PSI to weld the billet together. This process is done 3 times before proceeding to drawing out the billet.

Drawing the billet is achieved by heating the billet and using the press to depress the billet every 5cm along the billet, reducing the height and spacing the billet. This is done another 2 times before turning the billet on its side and pressing the side and top and bottom, drawing the billet out to a long square shape approx 500 mm long.

Once this is done, and the drawn out billet has cooled, it can be ground using a hand  grinder taking the surface back to bare steel on both sides. The billet is then cut in 3 even pieces using a drop grinder.

The three pieces are then put to the belt sanders again to remove contaminants and cleaned with acetone again before being welded again.

The process repeats again, dipping the new billet in kerosene and into the forge, heating, welding the billet 3 times before drawing the billet out again, then grinding and cutting the billet into 3 more pieces.

The process repeats a third time before drawing the billet out again. This time the billet is drawn flatter and wider to accommodate the proposed knife shape using the power hammer, roller and other tools.

The result is a Damascus steel billet of 243 layers.

Ric Noble

19 April 2024

https://youtu.be/DGatFK3pxeQ?si=4Ge0lNTKsqKmnvVT

Tharwa Valley Forge

https://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/