My First Damascus

Still working on making tools and acquiring skills that I'll be using to make kitchen knives.

I've decided to enjoy the process and build as much of what I use as is practical/fun.

While I do have a definite goal of becoming proficient at making kitchen knives, I figure there's no loss of effort in taking it in stages.

Toward that end, I recently created my first billet of Damascus steel, rough forged it to shape, then finished it with grinders, dremel tools and a lot of hand sanding.

The end result is this necklace, which is based on an ancient viking design representing the hammer of Thor, called Mjolnir. I will happily wear it as a reminder of my first mistake-ridden steps along the way to becoming a Damascus bladesmith.

(The steel I used, by the way, is 1095, 15N20, and a little bit of mild steel; all materials I plan to use in making knives.)

congrats on your first damascus!

That's awesome

Looks great! Good job! :doublethumbsup:

Thanks folks! It was really an education to make.

I started a bit small, and spent a lot of time in a race against forge scale, despite having tuned my flame fairly rich and being liberal with the anhydrous borax flux.

Next time I'll certainly make a larger billet even though I don't yet have a power hammer or hydraulic press to speed up the work and facilitate larger pieces.

It's all a learning experience, and I'm really enjoying the ride...

Nice work Noah.

Well done. Nice tie in with Norse mythology as well.