Damascus bowie blade in progress

[D.Ellis]

Hi guys...been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking competition lately, so not much posting......but I figgured I'd share this with you.
My first damascus with more than 11 layers......9 inch blade, 120 layers random.........1084 and 15n20. I rough ground and quick etched to see what it looked like...........that'll do I think.
Also should add, this was all done with hand hammers......no power hammer.    
What say you?    
Darcy

[Fallguy]

Sweeeet!!!!!

[Lamey]

man that's going to be a dandy!

[Lin Rhea]

Looks good.

[kbaknife]

That's a pile of work to do by hand.   :eek:
It will make you really appreciate your powerhammer/press when you get one!  
And that blade profile is very appealing, as well.
Congratulations.

[tomsm44]

Very nice.  You gonna leave the flats as forged or polish the whole thing up?  Either way should look sweet.  Your hammer arm should be good and strong now.  Careful not to snatch the string clean off that Great Northern.

Matt Toms

[D.Ellis]

Thanks guys.
Matt, I textured the flats with my texturing hammer.......I plan to leave them with the forge finish. I'll be carefull with the Lil Creep  :D  
Darcy  

[Lamey]

Darcy be sure and post us some progress pics.

[Doug Campbell]

       Looking forward to the finished piece Darcy.

[Lamey]

and I just reread the main post... YOU DID THIS WITH A HAND HAMMER>>>>  hats off to you my friend!

[Steve Nuckels]

Darcy, That's a great looking blade, anxious to see that finished.

If you can take a snapshot of your texturing hammer.  I made one, but not completly happy with it.

Steve
----------
Potomac Forge
Member, W.F. Moran Jr. Museum & Foundation

[D.Ellis]

Thanks guys. I did a lot of the drawing out with a 10 pound sledge hammer and an able assistant(my wife) to hold the billet handle while I whupped it.........would have been brutal to do all of it with a 4 pound cross pein.  
Steve, I'll take a pic of the texturing hammer and post it up later.
I have a couple other blades I have to finish up before I can finish this one, so it`ll be a while till I get further progress pics up.
Darcy  

[D.Ellis]

Originally posted by Steve Nuckels:
Darcy, That's a great looking blade, anxious to see that finished.

If you can take a snapshot of your texturing hammer.  I made one, but not completly happy with it.

Steve
----------
Potomac Forge
Member, W.F. Moran Jr. Museum & Foundation

Here's a pic of the hammer face........carefully and lovingly modefied with an angle grinder and by smacking it on a rock.......and the sharpest corner of my anvil(I don't recommend that.......it's hard on the anvil)

Darcy  

[srtben]

That's a good looking blade!

[Steve Nuckels]

Thanks Darcy, that is the opposite of my hammer face!  I took a wire welder and touched the hammer face leaving little bumps.

I like yours better, interesting result!

Steve
----------
Potomac Forge
Member, W.F. Moran Jr. Museum & Foundation

[D.Ellis]

Getting closer.



The pattern is a bit different on each side due to some stack distortion while I was whupping the heck outta it.........that's why they call it random pattern eh?    
Guard is still a rough bar of steel at this point.
Darcy  

[Lamey]

Darcy that thing is looking GOOD>>>>>  What you doing for handle etc???

[Idahomike251]

Holy crap Darcy, if it looks that nice in rough ground form, I would really like to see the blade when you put the finishing touch to it. By the way, you must by now have arm and shoulders like Popeye's.
Mike O.

[gudspelr]

That's beautiful, Darcy. Great job on it, I look forward to the finished knife. Thanks for sharing.


Jeremy

[D.Ellis]

Thanks guys. The blade is basically done, but it'll get etched once more just before assembly because I usually marr the finish a bit during the handle work. Handle will be polished caribou antler with a touch of carving just for fun. Fittings will be copper and mild steel. I hope to have it done by early next week.
Darcy