Damascus by hand, forge welding old files and bandsaw blades.

Forging my first bar of twisted damascus steel made from lumbermill bandsaw blades and old files.
Music intro/conclusion: JJ Weeks Band, "Fools Gold"

[@tonybletas930]

Takes a gutsy, honest man to post a video with flaws and all! Much respect to see you learning, but you're a teacher AND a student as we are all learning right beside you! Fantastic effort and good to see you smile at the end of it!

[@WJBlades]

Thanks, means alot to hear that.

[@honeybeehomesteading]

Tony you are spot on. There are so many haters and people that will find the smallest detail to rage on. It is good to see someone without 50000 worth of equipment making Damascus. Cheers to you both.

[@markjauregui8138]

Not realy a failure if you gained knowledge, and experience... More of a treasure of experience.. Thanks for sharing.

[@WJBlades]

Thanks.

[@leicesterblackthorne9699]

It is never a failure when you learn something from the effort.

[@jasonclinton3367]

Awesome video. Love that you are willing to post it even when things don't work out. I know I learn more from failing than I do from success.

[@rtwg605]

"By these hands, or not at all!" Yup!

[@WJBlades]

That's my perspective on Damascus at the moment. 😎

[@maarkaus48]

why did I just find this channel now? Cool vid. My kids and I are getting into this and am slowly building my setup. You are a little bit further along the road from us in progress, so its good to watch the mistakes. Thank you for the vid!

[@1averageamerican]

We all learned something and you ended up with some very nice looking usable billets. I call that a success.

[@arvilmaddox6666]

It is never a fail if you learn from your mistakes. I thought you did a pretty good job with it considering it was your first attempt, mine was a complete bust. I agree 💯 with you on making your own, damascus I do all of mine by hand with a hammer and anvil. Again good job.

[@ericcartrette6118]

First, just an observation. I've been a saw filer for 17 years now and work with saw steel every day. It was interesting to see the extra notch in the gullet of the saw blade. That's a frost notch and it helps keep the saw from snaking through the lumber when the wood is frozen. So that saw was last used in the colder months. Okay, enough of that nonsense. Really nice try! It makes me want to give it another shot. God bless!

[@shepardsforgeh2031]

I do all of mine by hand and latter take it to my friends forge who has a power hammer but im with you i do it all by hand and i hand sand as much as i can! It keeps me grounded! Hammer on my brother!

[@kevinreilly3369]

Hey there Forge Friend……your Vid maybe from 4yr ago, but…..I feel ya buddy! 7 times I tried in between sticking with what I know thinking that I’ll get it this time. So I tried a good size spring, like trampoline type….and hammered 4mm spring steel round rod to capacity and with a bucket of Borax……ended with a very satisfying compromising blade that over time, have had many comments about the “Zebra” type pattern. No re-stacking necessary for this one…….just clean, fill, heat, sprinkle as required, with copious amounts of hammer blows (as you well know), and your soon to be knife will….sorry…but….Spring into action💪🏼. Keep it up, and keep it in my friend👍🏼.

[@WJBlades]

I'm currently working on getting my forging set up backup at my new home. Life is a little crazy so not so many new videos at the moment. Thank you for your comment and encouragement.

[@kevinreilly3369]

@@WJBlades Your welcome, and all I can wish for you is TIME. It just seems to be the hardest thing to obtain, as life goes on! Cheers from Oz👍🏼

[@tinnyblacksmith3434]

Very nice work my friend can’t wait to see what you come up with next!!

[@MrBostjanVidmar]

I like the way you use your pocketknife ;) :) hahaha

[@WJBlades]

Had to sharpen it back up after that...lol.

[@406751]

awesome fails man,...that's how you learn. Thanks for sharing

[@NamBui-ot2ox]

I like you, like the way you make textures from such things. but also buying steel outside the shop and then forge is normal. thank you

[@WildCraftAdventures]

Amazing work I will definitely be using this advice! Thanks for sharing =D

[@WJBlades]

WildCraftAdventures Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement. I'm no expert but I love to try new things and learn. 🤓

[@WildCraftAdventures]

I appreciate the post! That way we can learn things together!

[@bluesix2843]

If it’s any consolation…the biggest fail in this video was the music choices 😉you know what they say …..if at first you don’t succeed ….👍

[@williambarnhartblacksmith414]

Every time I watch one of your videos the theme song gets stuck in my head. Lol.

[@WJBlades]

William Barnhart Blacksmith WB Blacksmithing Same here... lol. 🤣 Not sure I can keep using it though. I got permission from the artist but, the music business and copyrights are way more complicated than I realized. I'm in process of trying to find something I like to replace it.

[@dannyt2951]

Keep at it bro!!

[@sicdigz80]

you could make a cool kiridashi with it. cool video, been really wanting to try this and it will be by hand as well. thanks for sharing!

[@WJBlades]

Evans Leblanc Not a bad idea. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I still think I can use the big piece as a san-mai core. I'm thinking a small hidden tang hunter maybe. 🤔

[@johnniekane6315]

I have seen smith dip the ends in water to keep the ends from coming off. after all the ends are waste.

[@honeybeehomesteading]

I enjoyed your video. Like you I was all hand forging until I made a forging press. I made mine for around $1000 and it has been a game changer. I have a how to video on how to make one on my channel if you are interested.

[@jamesball7322]

Sorry man ,I’ve been super busy with buying a house,building hammers and juggling family time all wile still working my full time night shift I’ll get with you here soon bro

[@WJBlades]

Lol... Thanks for commenting. You can text or call me also, you got my cell number. Making this video made me think of our past conversations. Looking forward to chating with you when you get time.

[@skiiiler7943]

It works with canister damascus for me because i dont have borax.

[@harrybajwaj]

Wootz steel from row meterial

[@metricsystemisstupid]

I used the saw to cut the saw

[@NamBui-ot2ox]

from steel files and saw blades ... damacus

[@The_workshop11]

What I always do when preparing for forge welding is soak the material in muriatic acid

[@WJBlades]

Me too.

[@sirtblairjr]

Hi WJ, can you make me some Damascus billet? Hit me up.. but, I think that's cool the way you think. I don't have forge yet but working on it.. thanks for the video maybe, you can make folding knives?

[@WJBlades]

I'm pretty overwhelmed right now dealing with physical problems and hunting season. I'll be working on a custom striking anvil with a propane preheater very soon. Talk to me after that and maybe. =)

[@teamg2outdoors881]

You weren’t quite up to welding heat. Lemon yellow is what you’re shooting for. Lots of borax will help too

[@WJBlades]

The color you see on camera is not the color of the steel I'm looking at. Thanks for commenting though. 😎

[@Lordfireballz]

A lot of files are case hardened so inside might be a soft metal

[@WJBlades]

I've worked with alot of files, none of them have ever been soft metal. Where did you get the information that a lot of them are case hardened?

[@Lordfireballz]

@@WJBlades it’s maybe more with new files as opposed to old files but you’ll see a lot of people on bladesmiths forums who’ve encountered challenges with files because they were case hardened. Large scale manufacturing of files saves a lot of money from case hardening because they can purchase much less expensive steel than high carbon steel.

[@steveherring6660]

first of all there is no such thing as a failure. you have a lesson into how not to do something. next time you wont make those mistakes. it was interesting to watch you pound on that molten metal. best of luck with your desires.

[@fredricchopin5607]

Might help if your forge had more oxygen

[@user-xr7sk4el6d]

Одно была,была ,а где результат?

[@tahirtahir5866]

your temperatures wasn't hot enough to weld.

[@syariefdirgantara7670]

It's quite obvious. You're a "Purist" bladesmith 😁

[@WoodSteelElectricity]

Hammer is to small bro