notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Jun 24, 2018 7:21:59 GMT -5
since someone dragged it up im gonna have to say botswannas
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 6, 2018 20:25:02 GMT -5
Yes buffing drags out some of the black oxide layer left by the Feric chloride. Buffing doesn't allow you to hit just the high spots. I used auto sandpaper 600 to 1000 grit some guys go as high as 2000. This weekend I might tire up the forge and work on a Damascus project I've been wanting to do for a while I've been lacking motivation but this thread has me wanting to give it a go.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 5, 2018 23:17:04 GMT -5
I never tried buffing because a few people told me buffing blurs the lines.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 4, 2018 17:16:43 GMT -5
For what it's worth i only sanded to about 600 to 1000 grit before etching. Etching is gonna pit the surface anyway.then etch rinse off the black gook but not all of it put in boiling water for 10 Min that hardens up the black a lite so it stays in the deeper high carbon groves.spray liberally with Windex the ammonia neutralizes the acid. Then hand sand out the higher nickel lines.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 4, 2018 9:28:25 GMT -5
well you could try the old wheels nothing to lose. I just know the sic grinding wheels made for masonry don't work worth a damn on steel. and vice versa with the ao wheels on stone. like I said they do make diamond blades for cutting steel but they aren't popular. I don't know if its price or longevity ect.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 4, 2018 8:52:16 GMT -5
Frequent dipping in water with a dry aluminum oxide belt or grinder would be better, I wouldn't get steel anywhere near diamond wheels. Would you be more worried for the wheels if I used diamond? I have several sets of worn wheels that I was thinking of trying. do you have an old coarse sintered hard wheels? or an expando so if you wipe out a belt no big deal. that's where I would start.(well actually I would start on the belt sander lol) I mean they do make diamond cutting blades for steel but they just aren't that popular. I honestly don't know why.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 3, 2018 19:13:06 GMT -5
I would be real worried about putting steel to a diamond wheel steel is pretty grabby might pull the diamonds out. Most everyone uses aluminium oxide belts when doing steel. Carbide for stone masonry ext al oxide for steel.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 3, 2018 10:09:10 GMT -5
coarse grit is to remove any pits or defects from the surface of the rock. not just round but smooth. even rounded beach rocks I run through coarse grind. they just don't stay in coarse grind as long. every week open barrel and clean rocks. then feel rocks if any part of it does not feel smooth it goes back into coarse. pull the good ones load new stones back in to make up for the ones you took out then start it again for another week. you cannot put a time on coarse grit like you can others. well rounded beach rocks may take a week where as broken chunks of rocks can take months.
when you switch to finer grits they remove only the scratches left from the previous grit. replacing them with smaller scratches. till the scratches are so small you cant see them anymore which gives you a polish. any defect in the stone after coarse grind will not be taken out by the finer grits.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 3, 2018 9:48:37 GMT -5
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 3, 2018 8:59:08 GMT -5
Put some SiC in a jar of plain water and shake it up, then let it sit for a few minutes. The grit settles to the bottom very quickly. Now, fill a jar with slurry and add the same amount of SiC, shake it and let it sit. The grit stays suspended for a long time. I think that without a thickener a good portion of the grit settles in the barrel, rather than grinding on the stones, until the slurry starts to build. I could be wrong...maybe the agitation keeps it suspended? Sometimes I wish I had barrels that allowed me to build a clear lid. the only problem with this theory is that the gravity pulls to the bottom but the bottom of the barrel ends up being at the top a couple seconds later. so imagine setting the jar down then imagine flipping it every 2 seconds. then add rocks so it doesn't have an unobstructed fall. reminds me I have a barrel that's been running 3.5 weeks. just haven't had time to get to it. I'm sure even with the time release factor of the metallurgical sic, the last 2 weeks have been more of a slow erosion process than cutting.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Mar 22, 2018 4:05:12 GMT -5
ohh yeah after you grind you will have to re etch to expose the layers. if you want them nice dark lines you will want to use ferric chloride.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Mar 22, 2018 3:50:23 GMT -5
how thick are you looking for? I was thinking abt 5mm. But, I don't know for sure. Does the pattern run through the thickness of the billet or is it just on the surface? it really depends on the pattern. some do . while some others you have to forge close to shape you want then clean up or you will grind through. the pattern. using a knife for example. if you have a stack of layers and you grind a taper to the edge all that will show is lines running from one end to the other as your seeing the layers you ground through . I only ever taught pretty basic patterns like ladder raindrop sawtooth types at meetings. but I would explain it like this that bar with however many layers needs to be thought of like a topographical map. lets say raindrop for example you drill into the billet the deeper the hole the more layers you cut through exposing them. much like a lake on a topo map. deeper parts of the lake will have more circlish (is that even a word lol) lines the deeper it goes. since your drill bit is round you will end up with pretty much round circles in a perfect world but in reality after you drill the holes you have to compress the rest of the billet down to the depth of your deepest hole and distortion occurs . now lets apply that to a cab. the high dome in the center is the most untouched part of the billet so therefore your gonna have the most circleish shaped patterns. however as you grind the edges thinner your cutting through the layers so your "lakes" aren't as deep . however all is not lost cause as your cutting your still going through layers which would have been where the land was around your lake. and those make pattern too. with twists the pattern goes all the way through but gets closer the deeper you go. mosaics go all theway through and the pattern doesn't change. and you have to watch out for fakes when buying as well as unscruptulous sellers have been known to lay down a resist and etch it to look like a bar of Damascus.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Mar 20, 2018 23:09:42 GMT -5
Google damascus billets for sale. Ton of different patterns and one nine inch, forty dollar billet could make a bunch of cabs....Mel Thanks! Lots of them that I found weren't thick enough, but I picked one up on ebay pretty cheap that should work. how thick are you looking for?
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Mar 20, 2018 23:08:27 GMT -5
from about 2005 to about 2010 I went Damascus crazy. I remember my first time I made Damascus I went to a meeting 2.5 hours from home in bad weather to a guy named john fee's shop (hes now on the board of abana artist blacksmiths of north america) only 3 of us there. we ditched the demo that was planned as it was pretty easy to include all skill levels. and proceeded to do our first damascus billets. after that I was hooked experimented and played with all types of pattern from simple ladder raindrop sawtooth patterns to multitwist bars and acordians. I was blacksmithing back before it was cool. nowdays with shows like forged in fire utube videos ect our group has expanded exponentially. since everyone these days can make up fake bios ect heres a link to a meeting announcement from me teaching damascus at a meeting. toward the end of my damascus craze. www.nysdb.org/2010/adirondack-march2010/Do you have any pictures of your work? I'd love to see it- I love damascus steel. I doubt it unfortunately with the digital age I find pictures I didn't print out end up going by the wayside as every time I get a new computer . since its a hobby I didn't see the need to build a portfolio lol.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Mar 20, 2018 11:13:10 GMT -5
from about 2005 to about 2010 I went Damascus crazy. I remember my first time I made Damascus I went to a meeting 2.5 hours from home in bad weather to a guy named john fee's shop (hes now on the board of abana artist blacksmiths of north america) only 3 of us there. we ditched the demo that was planned as it was pretty easy to include all skill levels. and proceeded to do our first damascus billets. after that I was hooked experimented and played with all types of pattern from simple ladder raindrop sawtooth patterns to multitwist bars and acordians. I was blacksmithing back before it was cool. nowdays with shows like forged in fire utube videos ect our group has expanded exponentially. since everyone these days can make up fake bios ect heres a link to a meeting announcement from me teaching damascus at a meeting. toward the end of my damascus craze. www.nysdb.org/2010/adirondack-march2010/
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Mar 20, 2018 10:23:00 GMT -5
ive seen hammers little anvils and other shaped pieces of Damascus made into necklaces wedding rings pistol grips ect. somewhere around here I have a set of dividers I made years ago of Damascus. never seen 1 just cabbed looks cool. everyone ive ever met uses 2x72 belt sanders with ao belts.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Mar 19, 2018 10:55:51 GMT -5
years ago I tried my hand in the glass world. corning museum has a walk in workshop. made some glass flowers to incorporate in sculptures with steel cattails and leaves and such. a couple Christmas ornaments ect pretty basic stuff. their website has some of the demonstrations to stream. www.cmog.org/programs/live-streaming
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Mar 17, 2018 0:21:17 GMT -5
keep in coarse. finer grits basically remove scratches left by previous grits replacing them with smaller and smaller scratches until the scratches are so small they cant be seen with the naked eye. pits often catch larger grit in them that end up being released later on in the finer grits.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Jan 24, 2018 0:53:30 GMT -5
peaky blinders if your not easily offended.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Jan 6, 2018 9:47:04 GMT -5
welcome from ny. don't worry we wont hold it against you cause jamesp sent you.
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