Forging a Damascus Axe

In this video i try(for the first time) to forge a damascus edged axe.
the main body of the axe is made out of mild steel and then i forgeweld damascus in to that piece of mildsteel. This is also the first project in my brand new work hop that i built.
if you want to see more of what i do please go to my instagram
/ nilsogren
#damascusaxe #epicaxe #blacksmith

[@torbjornahman]

Nice!

[@somedayforge9224]

Great job on the axe. I liked the narration during your video. your English is good, quit putting yourself down.

I have a hard time finding the right words some time!

[@dragonstonegemironworkscra4740]

@ your doing fine. Us English speakers use to damned many words more often than not LMBO. Besides your accent draws one to actually listen to what your saying. Best wishes and new sub for ya. 🙏Be blessed now y'all Crawford out 🧙‍♂️

[@HansPacker]

@ I also think you did just fine with your commentary. I subscribed to your channel and look forward to more excellent videos.

[@redwhiteandblue7290]

I agree totally with you guys ... he does a great job and I liked the video alot ... job well done 👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@horseblinderson4747]

@ your commentary and pronunciation is fine. I really appreciate you saying how and why you're doing what you're doing.

[@RovingPunster]

Wow ... ya did it all by hand, without a power hammer, or even a striker or swage block. I think my testosterone levels rose at least 20 points watching this. BTW, beautiful anvil.😁

Thanks! Once my powerhammer is done things will go alot smoother ;)

[@cad1049]

That's amazing ! The result is beautiful and you shared lots of advices that I never heard before ! Keep up the good work !

Thank you very much for those kind words!

[@donaldmatthies6026]

That's a really nice looking axe. You don't have bad English, it's better than some people's English from the USA! Thank you for taking time to build, film, edit and post this video.

[@michaelwood5519]

Great Job! She's beautiful! love the damascus cutting edge.

[@Vhagar_CaneCorso]

Nice video. I'm having an axe made and I wish it was being filmed....the satisfaction of watching a forging I imagine can only be matched by actually doing the forge itself. Keep those videos coming. Hoping for more Viking axes with nice handles.

[@dragonstonegemironworkscra4740]

Your work is very nice. Like the finished product almost as much as watching it created. Torbjourn Ahman is one of my very favorite Smith here on KZbin. I've learned so very much from his teachings. 🙏 Blessings aboundant Sir Crawford out 🧙‍♂️

[@lsubslimed]

Turned out beautifully. Great job on the narration as well. And you're English is great, the only thing I noticed was a bit of an accent. I'm diggin that anvil too 👍

Thank you!

[@odinallfather4560]

Nils that is an awesome axe.

Thank you very much!

[@stephencallanan3795]

New fan from Australia. Thats awesome work mate, well done.

Hey man thanks alot!!

[@stephencallanan3795]

@ My pleasure, thanks for sharing your process, it's super helpful for noobs like me!

[@LiamJPenn]

Great job! I’ve been meaning to do more axes

[@SamTownsBladesmith]

Nice work mate!

Thanks buddy!

[@Hrolf_Alfblod]

Great video. Very informative. The axe turned out beautiful!

[@glennbayley5863]

Quite a beautiful axe. The axe handle was also spectacular really nice looking.

[@jmarth523]

Excellent video, good production and visuals and good narration. I havent dug into your other stuff yet but this vid is worth a sub for sure.

Thank you very much!

[@TheRch123185]

Absolutely beautiful, and your English is just fine my friend. You should do another one but seat the Damascus a little further into the head so you can expose more Damascus. Then try using a strong bath of instant coffee after the etch.

[@Isalys555]

Beautiful, awesome job! Don't forget to burn the paper towel once it has been in contact with linseed oil, it can ignite spontaneouly and set your workshop on fire.

[@BBForge]

Finally a Nils Ögren axe video awesome Job Nils. I got some good pointers from it. I hope to making beautiful axes like that one day

Thank you! Im glad i can help! Dont hesitate to ask if you have some questions 🤗

[@axemonkey]

Beautiful job.

[@cascadiaaxe]

This is so awesome! You’re one of my favorite IG accounts. Super excited to see you are doing KZbin stuff too! I love your axes!

[@bartweijs]

beautiful axe! I would have made the final drift less tapered , and possibly longer. Makes the axe head slipping off less a problem. As for wedge wood; I found some azobe, which is extremely hard splintery wood, but this makes a dark brown wedge which will stay solid for the coming 50 years. Also ... what if you made the axe insert from a twisted bar of damascus ... that would look awsome.

Good points. I agree with all of them.

[@jakebendel5238]

beautiful work.

[@derekmelton]

Great video! Enjoyed watching that.

Thanks Derek!

[@jameshall8875]

Thank you, that was very informative!

[@urbanlumberjack]

Awesome video. Beautiful axe.

Thank you :)

[@brettlabat8715]

Matt and Ilya over on that works use like a non-stick mixture of white ash and oil when making the eye of an axe, maybe you can try that? I don’t know, I’m not a blacksmith it just seems like they know what they’re doing

[@stardusk1726]

Dude your axe making game is on fleek

[@samurai3330]

Good Job. Greetings from Germany

[@grandadz_forge]

Wow this is an amazing video I'm going to share this and I'm amazed you only we got to change that too

[@oystercovecraftsman9219]

I reckon I have watched this video 3 times. Super impressive

Thank you! In retrospect there are a few things id do different. Ill make a new video on doing a forest axe soon, hope you will watch that aswell!

[@RRINTHESHOP]

Very nice, love the edge.

[@FinnJenkins]

Excellent video. And you don't need to apologise for your English. It was perfect! So was the axe! 😜

[@J_ismyname48]

Beautiful work sir. Enjoyed the video. 👍👍🪓🪓

[@valhalla3367]

Great job and great video

[@curtgregory9437]

Beautiful axe. Your English is very good. Keep up the great videos.

[@hughlink7341]

Beautiful work, love the handle, what does something like that sell for

Thank you! I dont know really, i havent sold it. If you are interested, look me up on instagram and we can chat there

[@sbjennings99]

Awesome informational educational video experience Y'alls

[@gabbagandalf8337]

Great video man!

[@TheRedhawke]

Beautifully done sir, and your English is not bad.

[@oneshotme]

Enjoyed your video and gave it a Thumbs Up

Much apriciated!

[@lovejcdc]

That is a great job on axe making. I would be proud to own that. I think your a great blacksmith and by the way you're english is just fine lol don't worry about that.

Thank you very much!

[@youkeybeatz7821]

Öğren means Learn in Turkish. And you deserve this Surname. Peace from Türkiye

Thank you kindly!

[@ValhallaIronworks]

Axcellent

How do you like my English axent?

[@dragonstonegemironworkscra4740]

Lol Alex 😂

[@BullRoarer_]

Beautiful axe, also your English is excellent mate! 👍🏻

[@latemcire8387]

It’s a pretty nice axe head but if it get used than wouldn’t the Damascus pattern get ground away with a sharpening stone? Seams like the hard/sharp edges on the handle would create hot spots in use and cause blisters too.

On your first point you are correct! This is not an axe i would use. Like Kyle Royers say about his damascus knifes; they are funtional art. In this case its only for display but would function if need be. The handle is rounded half way and octagonal the other half. I usually do round out the corners a little bit more but to be honest i was in a hurry making this video. The octagonal grip is something i saw Wranglerstar use and i really like it :)

If you look at historical pieces of eother swords of axes, especially when the axe was a symbol of power, there were alot of axes woth engravings, copper i lays and so forth. Back in viking times they had them to show wealth and power. So "show pieces" has been a thing for a very long time

[@h.schmid1965]

Great Job

Thanks alot!

[@jensdavidsen4557]

You don't ever need to apologize for "bad English" - you're not English and it wasn't your first language - I would MUCH prefer hearing you discuss the whole video in Svenska with English captions - if people want to watch English-spoken blacksmithing, there are plenty of native English speaking blacksmithing folks out there. It's always fascinating to hear other languages. Basically, I think it'd be great if you pattern off of Joey Van Der Steeg - some of his videos are in English and some are in his native language (Dutch I think) with English captions. Anyway, excellent work! New subscriber - Jens

[@erikdale9145]

Great work super easy to follow. How many hours do you have into this project estimated?

Id say that if i work efficiently, with close to zero mistakes, it takes about a workday.

[@МілаГалушко]

Достойная работа .

[@dwayneburbridge3283]

Thank you for the education! What wood did you use for the handle? It appears to have great figure. The figured woods that I use have a tendency to break/shatter!

[@thesixfootsixblacksmith4772]

I notice your solid fuel forge in the back is lit. Are you using both the gas and solid fuel forge for this project? Which forge did you use to forge weld the Damascus? Nice work!

On this axe I forge welded in the coal forge. Today I only use the coal forge when I have classes

[@MisterTwo92]

Not bad and your English is good.

[@Kurogane_666]

I don't want to make one out of Damascus but I want to make a couple axes and put in a good bit can you show how you make your axe drift?

Check my channel, I have a video where I forge an axe drift :)

[@stevenbell1888]

Very nice :)

[@jens-eriklangstrand1689]

Exellent work, Nils! Would you care to elaborate - what is in your opinion the resemblance the difference between wotz, pattern welded material and damasc`steel?

What we usually call "damascus steel" today is really pattern welded. The term got poularised in America a couple of decades ago. "Real" or the original damascus steel is to my knowledge more resemvled in woptz, but I am no expert on the subject.

[@jens-eriklangstrand1689]

​@ Who are "we" - I go answer and comment when the sun comes up ;) (You just hit a master blacksmith you see, and I trapped you :D :D ) Subject pending!

We = everyone calling patternwelded steel damascus steel.

[@Durin-Björnsson]

Hey Nils, where is your workshop? I moved to Sweden for a year now (still learning swedish) but I would be interested to get a custom made axe from you. I live in Mora. Keep up the cool work

I live about 2 hours south of Mora ;)

[@horseblinderson4747]

Did you forget your Mark? I'm twenty minutes in and can't recall it happening yet

I cant recall, it was so long ago. I probably did it and left it out of the video.

[@horseblinderson4747]

@ it's there it must have ended up on the cutting room floor. It's on the right side, just never saw you strike it.

[@Hudson4426]

Your English is great… don’t apologize

[@relaxivegotthis]

Not only is the axe awesome, your “bad English” is better than a lot of Americans I know 😂

[@dylanschmidt4166]

How fast do you go through a tank of propane? And what psi/Nm during normal heats?

[@DeliberateGeek]

Terrific job! Your English is just fine. I have two related questions. At the beginning of the video, you talk about marking out the center of the billet for the eye. It's clear that you wanted to center the eye along the 4cm width of the billet. How far from the back of the 10cm billet did you place the two punch marks for the eye? Also, if I were to try and make axes of different patterns, is there a way to estimate how far in from one end to place the eye, depending on the pattern?

There are two marks in the middle of the billet, the one is 1.5 ish cm from the back, the other is market to help guide my chisel tool. So the lenght between them is the same as the lenght of my chisel.

I dont quite understand the last question. In my case i forgeweld in the damascus billet.

[@DeliberateGeek]

@ That response to my first question makes sense. Thank you.

[@DeliberateGeek]

@ The second question was about how I would determine where to place the eye if I were trying to create a different type of axe and didn't have someone like yourself to tell me where to place it. In response to my first question, you said that you placed the first mark about 1.5cm from the back. That placement works well for this style of axe using that size material. If I had slightly different sized starting material, I could just use the same ratios to approximate the eye placement for the same style axe. If, however, I were making a hatchet with a small hammer head behind the eye, that eye placement would be too far back to leave me enough material for the hammer head. If I don't have some plans or a template to tell me where to place the eye for that hatchet, how might I try to estimate how far forward to place the eye in that case? Does that help clarify the question?

To be honest i started out feeling my way. When i make the carpenters axe i usualy leave even more material for the hammerpart. So it depends, if you want more material for the hammer simply go further to the middle etc. When i make bearded axes i use a smaller stock. And with smaller stock its easier to determine size of things. In my opinion.

[@stephenball724]

Hi Are those high temp gloves you are wearing?

They are made for welding

[@pellepaltnacke9655]

Bästa jag sett på länge

Man tackar man tackar!

[@danogresmith3883]

What wood did you use for the handle? Also cool last name I have the same one.

I used Swedish Mauser Birch! Are you named Ögren aswell ?

[@Hellefleur]

I know it's an axe, but I would have liked seeing it used.

[@ThousandTimesNo]

Almost no powertools... Damn that's impressive

Thank you!

[@lancemillward2462]

how many anvils do you have. I see three in shot

I think I have 5 anvils.

[@NLSkooch]

Cutting test?

[@saidulmondal8839]

How you would temper if you use a oven I mean which temperature and how long ? please answer

Depends what material it is and also how hard you want it. But around 220 celsius, 40mins x 3. Thats how i do it genereally speaking

[@saidulmondal8839]

@ thanks the material is1055 steel

If you search you can probably find graphs on google that show you exactoy how to heat treat that material

[@brandonburdette7895]

im not safety sam but bud put you some safety glasses on cause being able to see is a gift buddy I'm telling when that slag comes off and hits your eye it's gonna hurt like hell and put you eye out

[@hugoakerlund5114]

jävligt fint!

Tack ska du ha!

[@johnnyenechristensen3187]

Flot økse 👍🏼 du laver nogle gode videoer fortsæt med det 😁 håber du får mange følgere og jeg er helt sikker en af dem 👍🏼😁

[@jacksolhaug7070]

Snygg yxa. Fult och kantig och ska klumpigt skaft! 😬

[@10inmaine]

I want to buy one of your Bearded axe 🪓. Like the small organ one How can I contact you

[@darkiee69]

Try his instagram.

[@fartsuckernerd2690]

Enda en smed med talent! Nydelig øks og god engelsk, håper du vokser som en youtube'er. Jeg har abonnert og tatt på bjelle, så jeg føler med 😉👌

Tackar ödmjukast! Ska verkligen börja göra fler videor!