This is the first time I have made an NLT marked Sendero.
1. The first photo here shows where I start with 11 pieces I think it is. I am using 1/4 inch 5160 steel and some .060 inch thickness of 15N20 steel in an alternating lineup. You gotta make sure your 1/4 inch is on the outside to help hold the thinner pieces from buckling. First you cut them to length [here they are 6 inches in length and 1 1/2 inch wide]. Next step would be to tack weld those together, put a handle on it where you dont burn your hands then make your first forge weld.
This will be a mosaic damascus pattern so it will vary from other normal patterns that I do.
2. This is an odd way to explain it but bear with me, if you need to know it better I will come back to any step yall need. With a W pattern you only make the weld straight down as the photo above would indicate but then you would turn it on its side to where you hammer down on the edge grain like I am showing in the below picture. I only turned it so you would know where the second step is located. This is a tough weld to make as you have to be welding both sides and keeping them together.
3. Once you draw it so that you can get a four stack going you can still see in the steel where the side grains are showing. Right now it measures about 1/2 inch thickness by probally 1 1/4 inch.
4. You now chop it more or less in 4 equal lengths and letting the bad ends hang over so you dont put bad steel in your new billet of damascus. Normally with my W pattern I do the 4 stack 3 different times, weld draw out and restack. This time I ran it to 4 different times since it is a hunting size knife. I have no idea how this is going to turn out.
5. Showing is the end view after 3 stacks of 4 pieces [shown is just one of the pieces]. You can see the W's already. While forging and working it they get larger so maybe 4 will turn out.
6. As you can see from the above photo #5, the W's are on the inside and not the outside of the billet. The most common way of getting the pattern in the center of the steel to come out to the side is to accoridan cut it throw away the wedges and keep the center. What I am trying to do here is force the center of the pattern up with large ladder type dies. This will distort the pattern but should pull it up out of the center too. These dies showing are much heavier than my normal ladder pattern dies. I used a large gear rack to put these dies together to see if it will work or not. You might also notice that I have made enough steel that if the first one, which is this one, screws up then we can approach it from a different direction. Like I said, I have no idea of how we are going to turn out here.
7. Ok. I Ground the grooves off flush. The pattern is very small but you can make out some W's, I appears I did one stack too many.
You have to look pretty close but around the circle centers are distorted very small W's. This is where it really shows up that I did one too many stacks. There will be considerable change in the pattern when we take this bar and forge it to shape then grind it so we can see what the actual forging to shape did to the pattern.
8. Showing here is what it looks like while forging to shape, I have the blade portion almost done, once I finish that then it is letting it cool slowly then we will grind it to see what we have in the pattern.
9. Here I have rough ground so it so we can see the pattern after our forging to shape. It did not turn out like I wanted it to or thought it would. I will give both side views as they came out different.
Though it is an interesting pattern It is not what I was looking to do. So, best thing is that I go ahead and slowly finish this one while starting the W pattern all over again. Today is Saturday the 26th of August. I will not restart on the billet until next week. I need to take a day or so off to rest and to let the knot go down on my head. While messing around in the shop this morning so I could see what the pattern was I managed to doughwhap my forehead with a bar of steel and knock myself down to the floor. Think I best take the day off and let the head rest. Will get started next week again. guys.
10. Ok. So, since that one did not turn out, I thought take this and cut a wolf tooth pattern to see what we got out. Instead of the normal 1/8 inch thickness wheel I would use a 1/4 inch thickness one. First picture shows the grooves cut
And below is the results of that pattern. Still not what I am wanting out of it.
There is a little difference but not much in the two patterns. Now we are getting to a problem. I have enough left to watch really careful and try another stack up but totally different direction. I will be trying to work on it Thursday and will get the pictures up on it in the re-stack process. If it works then we can either leave these up or take them off. Yall let me know if you want to leave these. We are going to try it again looks like. There is a particular pattern I am wanting.
11. Ok. Refer back to picture 4 on this thread so you can see a little better what is going on right at this stage. The W's are on the top and facing you the way it sits. It measures 3/4" wide by 1 3/8 inch square. We will draw it out on the hammer so that the top side that measures the 3/4 inch thickness will be stretched out so that the entire blade comes from its side. That will be the side of the blade.
The picture below shows where we have stretched it out so that it now measures 1/4 inch thick by 7/8 inch top to bottom which is our basic ricasso size. We will now forge this to shape. then grind to see our pattern. This is really hard to forge down from that direction, it really tests the welds and your forging skills. They dont always make it as some times things go wrong.
Ok. Here we have it rough ground so you can see what the pattern is going to be like. I am excited, this is more what I was looking for. Now to prep it up for the guard, stamp it and heat treat and temper it. I have been working on this thing since 5:00am today.
You are not going to believe the amount of frusteration I feel right now. The blade is clean as a whistle. No flaws nothing. Clean, and dang it if that scandalous rascal did not crack the pattern when I cold stamped my stamps into the blade. Look at it below, you see the crack coming off of the MS through the ricasso down into the blade. After all of that then I crack it with the stamp. Some patterns due to their construction are liable for this, most particularly mosaics. I just simply forgot this is one of those patterns that can happen to. So, if I want a W pattern it is back to doing a restack of bars and begin all over again with a new billet. Crap, first two not like they needed to be, ruint portion of the billet then finally got one to turn out and bam! I crack it. arggggg. What happend is, that I cold stamp my blades instead of heating them red hot and hot stamping. It was too much too cold so the crack fractured up one of the weld lines. That can happen when there are complicated twists and turns in the damascus in a welded pattern such as this.
I am knocking off, this is 12 hours today ruint, all day yesterday a portion of the day before that and two days last week doing the welding.
I need the little white jacket for a couple of days I think but time is running too short to stay in it long.
Stay tuned to see me running across your computer screen screaming and shouting don't worry it will not be a new funny screen saver, just me pulling my bald spot a bit wider.
Here we are starting all over again. We have 9 pices that measure 1 1/2 inches wide. I will weld like the first time and do the 4 stack 4 different times. From there we will make the stack, weld and draw differently that we did before. I will just wait till I get that part started before anymore photos. Simply because until that time it is just a repeat of the first steps we did before.
I decided to go down to the shop and work last night then was up and at it by 5:00 this morning. I am determined to get this. I have it all welded up and then cut it to where I have a block that measures 1 3/8 inch by 1 3/8 inch by 1 1/2 inch tall. From this I will draw the blade. I think I have it hooked up in the right direction. I sprayed a bit of windex on it so you can see the pattern a bit.
I did put the handle on wrong. What we ended up with is REALLY Capitol W's that goes from tip to guard. Oh, well. at least it has a heck of a pattern on the narrow spine. That may be a new trend, spine patterns. I crack me up.
Ok, Now, I see an old gal on occasions and her name is Sarah N. Dippity. We are going to go with her on this one and name this damascus pattern "Sea Weed" Pattern. It is a hoped to never repeat pattern but it is different in itself. I will have this one at the show as well.
Well, we have it now. This is what I was wanting. You can bet your hinney that I will engrave the name on the blade this time. I am going to rest some tomorrow the 5th as I put in a lot of hours to get to the point below. It is just rough ground on a round wheel at this point.
Now we have the W pattern blade ready to prep up for the guard. I used my lay out dye so I can see it well and scribed my line. I will line up the file guide on the line and file right to it.
This part is important. On the left hand photo it is hard to see it with my photo skills and the flash going off but you can see where I am putting a radius around the tang area. The keeps it from breaking during stress. I do this on all of my pieces. That is one question you should always ask.
On the right hand photo I just wanted yall to know that I did remember to engrave the name this time and now stamp it. See, I do learn. Slow but I do.
Etching the blade. There are many ways to do this. Basic rule is that if one of the steels has a nickle content use Ferric Chorlide. If it does not have then use Muratic Acid. The 15N20 steels that I mix with my damascus allows me to use the Ferric. I use a 3 to 1 ratio of acid to rain water. I do not like stronger as it gives me a harsher etch. I submerge the blade in the acid and bring it out over 5 to 6 minutes and give it a bath with fresh pure rain water and scrub it down then back into the acid. About 18 minutes or so you have the etch done, depending upon the pattern. Finer layers will etch faster than bigger patterns.
Once the etch is to the depth you want then I spray it down with Windex several times wiping it with a cotton cloth each time. The ammonia in the windex will kill the acid. After that the next step for me is to spray it down with WD 40 and leave it over night. The WD 40 light oil will go in and help set the oxides which gives it its "black" tones, again depending upon the steels you use. 10 series steel such as 1084 will give different colors than a steel with a bit of chrome such as 5160.
This photo shows it as it has been in the acid for about one minute. You can see the temperd line very well at this point. One thing I would like for you to notice is where my temper lines run. You see many of them dropping off at the bottom of where the ricasso and choil meet. I dont like that personally so I always make mine to into the ricasso at least half way up on it. To me it just makes a stronger knife. When you are just starting out making knives it is always a good thing to put a one minute etch on the blade just so you can learn where your tempered line goes. For instance if you missed the heat just a bit on the tip it will show you right quick. After polishing the damascus you will not always get to see the termpered line as well as at this point.
Finally we have a finished blade to work with. After the etch I went in very carefully with 600 grit, and I mean lightly, by hand. I use a piece of leather that was glued to a ice cream stick as the backing on the sand paper. Then I went to 1500 grit, then used the backside of the sanding strip, then I used a brown grocery sack to do the last polish of the blade. You can see our "W"s well, the etch is clean and the blade was double tempered so it will hold a good edge. Next steps will be the handle. I am going to do this one as a frame handle. I have never did a Sendero with back bolsters. I will be welding or silver brazing the bolsters onto the frame.
Stay tuned to "As the Forge Turns" so you can see the next chapter and see if our hero gets framed. Man, I gotta get on stage somewhere, that was really good.
Now we start the frame handle. First of course you have to know the pattern of the handle, in this case we are using a designated handle pattern for me which is the Sendero handle. You saw out the outline in this case we are using 1/8 inch O1 steel. Next step is to lay the tang of the knife down on the frame cut out and cut it to where the frame just slides in. I always leave some taggy notches on the back side with slight angles, this is for the bonding agent as well as I make a few notches in the length of the frame for the bonding. Every little bit helps. You will see this on all my frame handles reguardless of handle design.
Next step is to make sure it fits the tang by filing the high spots that you might have left in the basic saw cuts. Use a rough file here as you do not want smooth, everything you do here is to accept the bond agent. Very little bonding agent will be used in this knife the way it is set up but I do not like a void of any kind in a handle so I always set up for it.
Since we are doing back bolsters you layout the bolster area, saw out the stock to be welded, in this case we have the two pieces of 416 stainless cut out. You sand the frame contact area of the bolsters smooth so the fit is good and you do not see a bad solder line as well as you do a perfect flat and 90 degree sand so that the bolsters are not whuppyjawed. You can also dovetail if you wish. On this one I prefer the 90 degee line. At the point where we are now I have scribed my line of where I want the bolsters to run. I set up the file guide on the line. I will place the bolsters right up to the file guide as this gives us an exact fit. You would then clamp off the bolsters and remove the file guide. Do your silver brazing and Ola! you have welded bolsters. I will show a photo of the rough welded bolsters when I do it next step.
Notice our tang will go up into the bolster area. Not only will it look good with the back bolsters but also the bolsters give it added strength by taking any side force put on it. Anytime you can make something both decorative and functional it is a good thing. With the back bolsters such as this we are getting this done.
We now have the bolsters welded on with the silver brazing process.The only thing that is a good fit at this point is the 90 degree from the frame itself and 90 degree line up from each others face.
On the above photo we have now did our rough work cleaning the profile up. When you do a good solder job it will be soldered on the inside as well. What you want to look for on solder lines is good fit up. No little black lines that denotes bad fit and bad soldering. On the side of the bolster you will note, right in the center is a black smudge. This is where I did not clean it up fully in the rough work. I get almost there then let it finish with the next finer grit or next clean up work. If I did it full clean then the next grit would just make it thinner and I wanted to keep as much color of the mammoth ivory as possible.
At this point the ivory has been layed up next to the frame and fitted to it. At this point it is just held on with superglue so I can work it to the almost finished state. Have to be careful though cause just a bump will knock the scales loose as it is just two drops of glue per side and some of that has been ground off. The guard has been slotted and is ready to press on to its seating area.
Once the fit up is done so I know it is right then I slide it all back off and do the rough grinding on the guard. This allows me to move most of the metal without anymore heat build up than necessary. Anytime you grind metal to ivory you must go slow. Ivory especially Mammoth is so sensitve that you must really take your time with only new belts.
This step shows the handle right after it is bonded onto the tang. The next part will be finish grinding the handle and guard. It is all at 60 grit and we will go to 120 then finer and finer then put in the handle screws then finish it all out and polish. Yehawww, we will be laying out the engraving on this puppy next week sometime.
I went in and did the contour of the guard, and finish sanded and polished it. It is now ready to start laying out the engraving which I will do next week. For the next day or two I need to get back onto doing other work and give me a bit of relief from working on this one so much.
What is showing here is where I have layed out the engraving with a pencil, scribbed those lines with the carbide tipped scribe then cut all of the basic center lines. I cut those lines first before I cut the border lines. This way it gives the engraving more dimension when it overflows into the border lines. I plan on doing gold borders. I wait and do my shading till after the borders are cut and most if not all the background is removed. At this point I am also planning on putting gold inlay in the main trunk line of the scroll and having it go right to the fold over of the end of the scroll then shade right upto the fold over and leave the fold over itself silver as it is the back of the leaf scroll. While I am doing the back bolsters I am still pondering over what to do to the guard. I know it will have the border done up in 24 kt gold to match the back bolsters.
The border itself is done with a flat chisel, then dovetailed. The main trunk line of the scroll will have to be done with a 90 degree single point, then it dovetailed. I do this to keep it clean, if you did it with a flat then you would have unsightly back drag marks around the bends.
On this photo is shows where I have inlaid the 24kt gold borders and the trunk of the scroll. You can see where the gold in the back shows up a little better than the gold on the guard. This is something I tried for the first time.When you want your gold to really pop out cut a very fine line on each side of the gold. Thats easier said than done. I will do better down the road. After this photo I had to go back in and clean up the lines just a tad on the back bolsters where I had some wobble. I will learn to do it better as I go. What happened was my chisel kept trying to get over into the gold since you have to cut it so close. The gold is much softer so that really presents a problem. I will be cutting the lines around the guard tomorrow and doing the shading. That is not the line up I had planned to do on it but I broke my flat chisel and had to order a new one so tomorrow will be shading instead of background removal.
I got up at 6 this morning and got the shading done on this one side. The flat chisel came in about 3:00 and I worked on it till 9 tonight to remove the background then texture it so it would hold the lacquer. I really wanted to get this done so you could see it. Tomorrow I will be working on the getting the other bolster done if I run out of time or get too tired I will finish it up saturday. You can see where I did the basic lines, then cut the border so it overlaps in a few places. Just gives more dimensional look to it. I like it personally.
It is finally finished. I started at 5 this morning and worked till 8 on it. I shading the off side of the rear bolster and relieved the background. Life is good. It is marked NLT #6-2006 on the curve of the bottom between where the rear bolster starts and the curve ends. Right on the frame handle portion. I will begin engraving on the NLT Dirk next week.
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