Horsehead Creek Knives | Custom Damascus Knives

In every knifemaker’s shop who forges Damascus there eventually accumulates a rag-tag pile of odd shape pieces that were cut off of billets to form a knife blank. My shop is no exception. Over the past years I have thrown the tag ends into a coffee can not really knowing what to do with them. The patterns in the Damascus tag end pieces are too pretty to just throw away, so after moving the can innumerable times to get it out of the way I decided to try and do something with these little pieces.

The pieces will vary in thickness from less than an 1/8th inch to as thick as 1/4'" and are every shape imaginable, from a sliver an inch long to a billet end that is a couple of inches long, to a slab maybe 3" long. (See photo). Triangle shaped, square shaped, oblong, etc. Does this really look like something that you could forge together? Not really but damn I hate to throw anything away that has such gorgeous lines in it. Please bear in mind that these pieces have already been forged once before in the making of another knife. The tag ends will vary from 80 layers to as many as 320 layers with varying amounts of 15N20, 1084HC,1095HC, L6 and D2. How do you get these little odd shaped pieces to forge together? Read on and I will take you through the steps needed to make something from nothing.

Start your process by cutting a 2"x 5"x 1" piece of boxed steel(1018). Cut the top of the box out and save the piece that you cut out(you will use it later in another step). Now take the open ended box and weld end plates on each end it should now look like the inner box of a box of farmer matches.

With this done, dump the can of tag ends out where you can sort through them for the various sizes you are going to need. Please also bear in mind that I am looking through approximately 13 different patterns of Damascus that I forge. Also what in the devil is this going to look like if I am lucky enough to get it to stick together?

Ok, arrange the different size pieces in the bottom of the box until you have one layer more or less fitted into the box. Now take some powdered steel (15N20 or 1084HC) and carefully fill the voids between the irregular shaped pieces until you have one layer on the bottom of the box. Now back to the tag ends to build another layer on top of what you have just done. The arrangement of the pieces really doesn’t make any difference.

Build your second layer just like you did the first layer then tamp the powdered steel into the voids as before. Do this again for your 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th layer being very careful not to leave any powdered steel on top of each of the preceding layers. When the box is full to the top of the edges it is now time to go back and get that first piece that you cut out.

Take the box filled with your tag ends and powdered steel to the vice and pinch the sides back to its original(box steel will spring open larger than original when you cut the top out) size so that you can weld the top back on. After welding the top on and making it air tight take a 1/16th bit and drill a gas escape hole in one end close to the top edge this will prevent it from blowing apart. With this done weld a suitable handle on one end for inserting it in the forge.

When forging this together it must be forged and hammered exactly the same on all sides of the box. You must continually draw it out as well as condense the longer sides of the box as you forge it together. Don’t get in a rush to get it down to billet size, take your time and get it down to where you have about a 10" x 1" x 2" bar. With this accomplished return it to the forge and bring it up to welding temperature, when you reach that point take it to the awaiting vice and clamp it down tight in a vertical position. Grab a large crescent wrench or a pipe wrench and twist the billet at least one full turn, more if you desire. Take the twisted billet back to the forge after a stiff brushing to get rid of excess slag and flux. Reheat back to forging temp and continue to draw the corkscrew looking billet out both length wise and sideways until you have a manageable billet that you can work down with the hammer. You should leave the final billet about 3 times the thickness that you want your knife blade to be (1/2" is about right). If everything worked out right thus far your billet should be about 10 to 12 inches long and about 2 and 3/4 inches wide by about 3/4 inch thick. Let this billet anneal in the forge before continuing.

The billet should now be annealed and the next step is to remove the outer layer of 1018 steel that is encompassing the tag ends that you put in the box. I am getting damn anxious to see what this Damascus is going to look like. After grinding or milling the outer 1/8th of steel box away on all sides take it down to at least 80 grit before running a test in the ferric chloride(etchant solution). Hopefully you will find no voids or cold cracks in your billet. Leave in the etchant solution for about 5 minutes, this should give you an idea of what the pattern is going to look like. Hot Damn it’s a winner!!!! No cold shunts, no trapped flux and a gorgeous pattern.

The one unfortunate thing about forging a billet this way is that you have no idea of what the pattern is going to look like. Think about it!!! You can repeat the process but you will never be able to repeat the pattern. You now have one billet with every type of Damascus pattern that you have forged thus far in your career. Grinding this billet into a blade with all the patterns of Damascus that you have thus far been able to come up with is gratifying to say the least.

Some folks would say that this is just canned Damascus, but I would have to disagree because each and every layer of every pattern at one time you have forged yourself. In canned Damascus you build your design into the pattern in a cookie-cutter arrangement so that you know what it is going to look like before you forge it together, not so with this method of using your own pattern welded designs.

This particular piece of Damascus was sent in the form of a rough billet to a good customer of mine so that he could see the pattern before I built a knife from it. The knife is now in his collection………Loyd Thomsen.

See the finished knife.