On Saturday I rode to Witten to meet with Volker and to do some forging. Volker wasn´t too well, having problems with his hip bones and the rigors of blacksmithing for a long time. But he kept going nonetheless. I wish him all the best and hope he´ll be well.
We had a coffee, and I took a stroll around the museum to give you some input on the Ciupaga / Fokos / Sokyra / Bartka / Steigerstock / Fahrstock. Here is a pic of some miner in traditional representation attire and an unusual example of a Fahrstock, in that it has a hammer´s head!
A pick was also in use, as shown in this painting.
Here it is a hammer´s head again. This is an attire in use in the Witten / Bochum region.
Then I lit up forge and made myself "Her Grace Sokyra". C 60, forged from an old hammerhead, tempered selectively to a springy temper.
After that, I brought out the Borax, some mild steel and 1.2842 and simply got on with making damascus. I was focused hard, so nop pics of the process, but I´ve got an advice: If you want to get started with making damascus, try out this combination of steels, it welds great. Farther down you´ll read another little rant you all love on fancy steels and steel sorcery;-).
The billet with the tip already forged. I forged 27 layers, then turned it on the other side to achieve a "Masame" pattern, and welded another layer of 1.2842 into the middle. With so few layers, you get little carbon diffusion, so you might end up having a layer with too little carbon content to achieve a decent temper, so you´d better do a San Mai construction. I forged it into a straight back utility blade. I love the Roselli knives, but hate the short tang;-), so I forged a longer one to be peened over. The hindmost half of the tang is made from the billet handle, and it´s mild steel.
The blade.
Every time I realized my concentration was fading, I had a break. I took a drink of water, had a coffee with Volker (Thanks to the guy for providing a steady flow of Java;-)), and all went well.
Then there was a torch hike scheduled and I did a damascus demo for the people, and even got some applause!
The fruits of my labour;-).
At home I fitted a stag antler handle with brass mountings to it, and I tested it. Hard.
And it does what my spring steel knives do, with a lateral flexibility of some 20 degrees (fixed it in a vice and bent it), springy. I slammed it edge first on the tempered axle of my vice by accident. There was a dent, but a flexible one, that could be removed with some strokes of the strop. You can´t ask for more from a knife! In fact, it´s already more than most people would ever ask from a knife...
So, here´s the promised rant: Mild steel and 1.2842 certainly are no wonder steels. Few if any damascus smiths bother to use those qualities, and I admit I was sceptical at first when I learnt from Jens Nettlich that he uses them. But it´s a bit like using spring steel. Many steel wizerds sneer at this common man´s steel, but what counts to me is that it works, and works well. The combination is a cinch to weld, even with dirty coke and a less-than-optimal forge, it was so easy I could not believe it! The knife keeps a good edge, is flexible to boot, and takes a hardness (at the edge) of 60 HRC with a very conservative heat treating. It also sharpens well and the edge is flexible to be stropped to new from a severe beating.
I made the spine some 3.8 mm thick.
This is a detail in riverso...
...and on the quart side.
I hope that I can practice these skills some more, to be able to process iron ore one day. Of course, I will also try to weld some more problematic steels, but as a user, this combination is hard to beat. I really, really love this knife, having used it some on bacon and wood;-) and iron nails and rawhide. It will become my personal EDC.
Those are the adventures of Mr. Fimbulmyrk, in bushcraft and blacksmithing, mountainbiking and hiking, reenactment, writing, singing, dancing, stargazing and having a piece of cake and a coffee. Pray have a seat and look around you, but be warned - the forest´s twilight is ferocious at times.
Dienstag, 19. Februar 2013
In the smithy: More info on the Ciupaga-and my first own damascus since 10 years!
Labels:
1.2842,
Baustahl,
Bergmannskultur,
Ciupaga,
Fahrstock,
Fokos,
Knifemaking Tribal Smithing,
making damascus,
Masame,
mild steel,
miner´s attire,
San Mai,
Sokyra,
ST-37,
Steigerstock
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