Pinstripe damascus

A couple of times now I've made a 5 layer razor by just making a stack, forgewelding it together, drawing it out and forging the razor. Since I use just a hand hammer, the layers always have a fair amount of randomness to them. I wanted to try making a razor with neat and orderly layers for once, kinda like the lines in a pinstripe suit.

So I made a 5 layer stack as always and forgewelded it together. But then I split it orthogonally to the layers in 2 equal parts (I cut it lengthwise with an angle grinder), and then took 1 piece (which had a rectangular cross section now) flipped it 90 degrees and drew it out and made it flatter but with the layers running horizontally in the blade instead of vertically. And then I forged a standard monster design razor out of that.

One thing that didn't go as planned was the thin crack you see in the tang. That was a lapse in judgement on my part. O2 through hardens immediately. 15N20 not so much. During quench, the blade hardened instantly but the tang must have retained enough heat to keep the inner layer of 15N20 soft. That contracted during the quench and caused a thin crack in the tang. Looking back this seems hard to avoid in this design using this combination of steels. Next time I think I'll twist the tang a couple of times to distribute those stresses.

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Beautiful pattern Bruno. I think it gives the blade a very classy look.

Very nice.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

So I made a 5 layer stack as always and forgewelded it together. But then I split it orthogonally to the layers in 2 equal parts (I cut it lengthwise with an angle grinder), and then took 1 piece (which had a rectangular cross section now) flipped it 90 degrees and drew it out and made it flatter but with the layers running horizontally in the blade instead of vertically. And then I forged a standard monster design razor out of that.

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It looks great, but I cannot reconcile the blade with your description. I'm gonna have to do some figuring on the matter!

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Originally Posted by Utopian

It looks great, but I cannot reconcile the blade with your description. I'm gonna have to do some figuring on the matter!

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I'll make drawing later today and post it here. :)

Thank you. That will eliminate my need to think!

:dropjaw::dropjaw: wow she is a monstrous beauty

A horizontal Zebra! :)

Irrespective of the crack, that's a beauty Bruno!

That's a beautiful and striking damascus pattern unlike any I've seen before.
Great "outside the box" thinking on this one!
Your work continues to cause amazement!

Pete <:-}

Here's the drawing of the process. I only drew a 3 layer stack because the principle is the same.

Attachment 244049

Absolutely amazing! I have never really seen another razor with that pattern.

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those stripes look nice, never seen damascus steel looking like this


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Wow!! Beautiful Bruno, Do you ever sell any Damascus blanks you make, I'm having a hard time trying to source blanks in the right thickness in Europe cheers Ed.

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Originally Posted by EdBrice

Wow!! Beautiful Bruno, Do you ever sell any Damascus blanks you make, I'm having a hard time trying to source blanks in the right thickness in Europe cheers Ed.

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Ed: 3 Day Damascus Class | Owen Bush

Owen is a good friend of mine. He will introduce you to more of them. I suspect he has some small bits that will interest you. If you can find a Damasteel supplier you will then have access to stain resistant pattern welded materials.

Avoid anything that is Pakistani or reeks of being incomparably inexpensive. But that's another learning curve and the circular path returns to Owen's good shop.

Thanks Mike I will have to look into that,Owen is only 30 minutes drive from me and the course sure looks interesting, At the moment I have only done a couple of forged razors, as I have been mostly concentrating on stock removal, But seeing all the beautiful razors you guys knock out particularly Bruno's masterpieces in pattern Damascus,has me longing to have a go cheers Ed.

No problem Ed. When you go visit, take along some samples of stuff you've worked on, forged or stock removal both. Show and tell is a great way to break the ice.

Amazing...simply amazing!

Bruno. I'm not usually a fan of Damascus blades, but I really like the look of this pattern. Very well done!

The scales appear to be Kirinite? I've seen this material on a lot of your blades. How is it to work with?

It is a bit like acrylic. Except it is stronger, polishes nicer, and most importantly, it doesn't outgas while working it so you avoid the acrylic solvent stench. It is more expensive than acrylic, but given the price of my razors, not enough that it matters. I've stopped taking the price of the scales material into consideration a long time ago. Only when using things like mammoth Ivory does the price of the material come into play.