Cal G

Alan you can't believe how much fun it is, as the thin stainless, seems to bend different than the thick stainless. After I have all the thin pieces epoxied together I put them in the press as a unit and put about 20 tons of force on them and they fit perfectly to the thick piece.

52100 core 420SS sides, maple burl stainless fittings with red micarta spacer.

Charles my grinder only has one speed and that would be 5 x 3.14 x 1750 x 1/12 = 2289 ft/min The key is to use a new sharp belt as an old one will tend to burn the spacer material especially if it is next to a SS spacer it really get hot in a hurray.

Mine is just .015 black spacer material sandwiched between SS and yes you have to have a sharp belt to grind it so it does not get hot and melt the spacer material.

Gary my forge runs around 2150 to 2250 deg F so that would be the temp i weld billet of San Mai. To me it more about the prep work with San Mai , flat ,clean and completely welded around the perimeter to keep out the oxygen. I have never had a billet not weld.

Got these finished. Time to clean up the shop and get inspired for something new next year. Crushed W's eyed with dovetailed stainless bolster and yellow/black G10, 420 SS with 52100 core San Mai black lined Micrata handle.

This has been bothering me for some time so I would like to get some opinions on this. I always make my feather point towards the tip on the blade but everyone else seems to point it towards the handle.

Doug if I understand the question,the back of the handle must be at 90 degrees to the tang bolt. Then just screw the butt cap on and everything should line up and fit.

1080 /15N20 crushed W's laddered steel,stainless fittings and stabilized maple burl The finished knife

1080 /15N20 crushed W's,twisted stainless fittings, dovetailed bolster and G10 handles.

I never know what to do with small left over pieces of my Damascus. So I weld a tang on and turn them into small kitchen knives. These 3 have Iron wood handles, micarta spacers and stainless fittings with epoxy and pinned handles.

Here is the process I use 1. Clean up the blade after Heat Treat ,sand to 600 2. Etch your mark on the blade ,use DC current and drive it into metal fairly deep then etch the complete blade in Ferric Chloride 3. attach bolster/guard, glue on handle 4. grind guard and handle to shape ,you are correct this will destroy the damascus pattern on the handle edges 5. buff finish the handle and guard 6. clean the exposed steel in the handle area with acetone to remove any buffing grease (you can't use acetone with some acrylic handle material as it will dissolve the mate

Ray I had had never seen this pattern. One day I decided to put some eyes in a crushed W's billet and kind of liked the way it turned out. Kind of looks like little Pacmans. Things are good here Ray except it was a little smokey here last week, ( I thought you might have burned down your shop again) it is amazing how far that smoke travels. Take care and stay safe.

They are pinned with 1/8 pins. I have only made one knife with a soldered bolster and I was less than pleased with the outcome.

MIKE HERE IS EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THAT DESIGN. i WOULD NOT MAKE A PRESS WITH THAT SMALL OF A ROD.