Cal G

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.

Looks good Raymond ? When you going to use the Musk Ox I gave you.

Dave it is crushed W's but not drilled. I use two plates with 3/8 balls welded to them. I was never a fan of drilling or cutting groves in a billet, I would rather do the pattern with a die.

1080/ 15N20 crushed W's eyed with Stainless fittings and maroon micarta scales.

Great looking knife !

You only need one gage I used 2 because I had to set the pressure on my regeneration valve. A larger rated valve should not be and issue unless it is really over rated. Something with 1/2 inch ports will be fine.

An open center could drop from gravity if the weight was large enough but I doubt it in a small press like this it would ,..... but IT IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO USE , Use a tandem center ports A and B blocked, P port open to Tank in the neutral position . Forget about using a solenoid valve you will have very little control over what you are pressing.

You want to use a tandem center valve. This valve will hold the cylinder in position and allow the pump flow back to the reservoir in the neutral position.

You better watch what you post or everyone in Oregon will be on your property with a shovel looking for it.......!!!!!!!!

I used a pressure compensated piston pump 5 GPM at 1800 RPM simply because I had one worth about $2000.00 HP = PRESSURE X GPM / 1714/.85 so for example if you are pumping 3 GPM at 2000 psi it will take 3x2000/1714/.85 = 4.118 HP The HP to driver a 2 stage pump is the HP to unload the larger section plus the HP to drive the high pressure low flow section during the pressing operation. I really suggest you guys find a reputable hydraulic dealer that knows what he is doing and get them to design the system so you don't waste a lot of time and money on a system that either do