[TheForge] Re: Powder Damascus

[Mike Spencer]

Chuck Robinson wrote:

> Knife smiths have been developing this process for several years now.
> It's not real easy to do, but the results can be quite dramatic.  I
> have a nice pile of very expensive trashed billets that attest to the
> long learning curve.

Do you mean that knife makers are doing powder metallurgy in their own
shops?  If so, I'm further out of touch that I thought.

Or did you miss the point that this stuff is being built up by
layering up two kinds of powdered steel, making a single press weld to
sinter it together?

I've made a number of trashed billets and couple of blades in the
traditional way myself, including the one I gave to Peter Happny that
made by welding together an antique 1-1/4" open end industrial wrench,
half a pair of wrought iron tongs and the cover from my rusted out tin
wood stove.  (Oddly, that mess worked better than some of the more
carefully planned attempts.  Part of the smashed stove top, half the
wrench and part of the tong rein project from the blade, offering
various options for a grip, none of them good. :-)


BTW, does anybody know an email address for Peter or Lisa?  Or are
they strictly off-net folks?

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

--