Thread: Chopper in O2/L6 Howard Clark damascus

I mailed him the O2, as it is impossible to get in the US. Which doesn't make sense to me but there you go. O1 makes a lot of sense for industrial use because of the added tungsten which makes it a tougher, but O2 is better for fined edged blades.

I also like the fact that it was kept at a low layer count. If you forge to shape, 84 layers is enough. If you double up on the layers, you get patterns that are so find that they become just greyish mist. with a low layer count you still get nice patterns on the flat bits. And because I hammered the blade shape to size, those 84 layers get squeezed together in a 1/8 thickness near the edge, so when the hollows are ground, I still get 84 layers to cut through that are spread nicely in the hollow.

High layer counts only make sense for pure stock removers (otherwise they get weird looking layers) and knife guys, because the blade is flat and has no hollow grinding. Low layer count / inch would give a very coarse pattern.

For Razors, Howard said this was best and I fully agree.

That is one of the best patterns I have seen.

Congrats

Sometimes a forger can become a pure stock remover with their own damascus if they are looking got get a certain look to their pattern. I saw a quote form Kevin Cashen who called O2 O1's wonderful little sister in that it was simple and contained fewer 'troublesome" alloying elements and also, because of all of that manganese, it would etch as "black as a moonless night" when used in damascus. He apparently welded some up with L6 too and was very pleased with the result.

Originally Posted by Bruno

I mailed him the O2, as it is impossible to get in the US. Which doesn't make sense to me but there you go. O1 makes a lot of sense for industrial use because of the added tungsten which makes it a tougher, but O2 is better for fined edged blades.

I also like the fact that it was kept at a low layer count. If you forge to shape, 84 layers is enough. If you double up on the layers, you get patterns that are so find that they become just greyish mist. with a low layer count you still get nice patterns on the flat bits. And because I hammered the blade shape to size, those 84 layers get squeezed together in a 1/8 thickness near the edge, so when the hollows are ground, I still get 84 layers to cut through that are spread nicely in the hollow.

High layer counts only make sense for pure stock removers (otherwise they get weird looking layers) and knife guys, because the blade is flat and has no hollow grinding. Low layer count / inch would give a very coarse pattern.

For Razors, Howard said this was best and I fully agree.