Triple-T

#tyrellknifeworks
In today's Triple-T (tools, tips and talk) #140, I'll be discussing my first attempt at forging stainless steel damascus. This is part 1, there will be others!
Josh Prince: / princeworksforge
Maritime Knife Supply: maritimeknifesupply.ca/
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[@jakubptacek2275]

I love that you are aiming high and are not afraid to share this epic failure. Also we can finally see the direct comparison of difficulties in stainless damascus with ordinary carbon steel. When someone like you who normally makes incredibly intricate stuff, now fails in the first forge weld. And also having Josh Prince is cool as f..., he's my favourite damscus maker and his work is incredible! Looking forward to future attempts! Thanks!

[@Sajuuk]

True, but he can afford to show a failure. He's already established himself as a master smith. A nobody like me would get roasted in the comments section...

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

It's true that SS damascus is a tough one. I'll keep going until I get it to work! Thanks for watching

[@lewgriffinknives216]

Great to see stainless Damascus getting a breakdown of process, thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing the results!

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Stay tuned, I’m going to conquer this process! 👍

[@lewgriffinknives216]

@@TyrellKnifeworks no doubt that you'll conquer it!

[@judcargile]

We are so blessed to have such talent in the bladesmith community!

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

It’s great to be able to reach out and get info from other makers who are willing to help! Thanks for watching.

[@RainyDayForge]

What a great community! To be able to reach out to someone like Josh Prince and pick his brain is immensely valuable. Best of luck on the next billet!

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

We met at Maker Camp last year. He’s a great guy and always willing to help. We actually recorded that session twice because the audio did work the first time. 😜. Thanks for watching.

[@RainyDayForge]

@@TyrellKnifeworks Uhhrrggg...That's frustrating. I couldn't tell that it was a do-over.

[@bobgore1962]

Thanks for sharing my brother! You are a huge part of me becoming the best version of myself! You sharing your educational experiences is such a valuable gift, and I appreciate it very much! 😎👍🏻🔨🔥🔪

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Thanks for following along, Bob! I love pushing into new things and showing the community how to get them done!

[@JPsBladeworks]

Glad to see im not the only one who has failure in his videos 😅. Ill be learning a lot through your mistakes because i want to try this myself soon as well.

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

This is a tough process. Even once you master it, the failure rate is still very high. Thanks for watching, JP

[@HeavyForge]

That’s was awesome! Peter Burt has giving me some good tips on stainless Damascus. No doubt in my mind you will prevail!

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I'm already planning my argon setup. 😉

[@danwerkman]

Very interesting.. argon is definitely a great idea . Such a interesting video. Thanks Denis.

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Stay tuned, I’m going to master this! 😉

[@rhodie33]

Mr Prince is a fantastic knife maker and a very smart guy.

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Plus just a really cool, down to earth guy who’s willing to help out a fellow smith. Thanks for watching

[@maneotis4g63t]

Yesssss back to forging!

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

There will be some cool builds coming up, stay tuned!

[@brycehampton7649]

Oh my gosh 😮I know that guy he do in forged in fire 🔥 with tiger claw knifes so keep moving forward 😊

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Josh is a cool guy and he's always willing to help someone else out. I met him at Maker Camp last year. Thanks for watching, Bryce.

[@krissteel4074]

About 4 years ago I picked up some Balbach SS which was a combo of N690 and Nitro-B, it was on special and I was making a lot of stuff with N690 and the time so it was something easy to process. Well, it turned out beautiful but getting the layer count out of it meant some long soaks in HCL. In terms of DIY'ing your own SS pattern welds, your friend's advice is probably on point as I've heard of the canister process with gas stream, but its so waaaaaay out of my tooling and pay grade that I haven't touched it myself. I've seen a lot of combo's out there for the materials including some 300 series steels mixed in with the high carbon, but that won't make for a very good knife unless its clad to the sides of a high carbon centre. There's a few other companies out there who make it on an industrial scale like Takefu in JP who use VG10 and something else, being VG10 is more or less N690 its close enough not to matter. In terms of spending, the N690/VG10 with Nitro-B is probably the cheaper end of the scale that will also make for a pretty good blade, mostly because N690 doesn't need a cryo cycle and more or less completes its process by the time its room temp and straight into the tempering. Anyway, wish you best of luck but I've not got much else to help you out with :)

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I already have argon for tig welding so hooking it up to a handle and attaching to a billet seems certainly doable for me. Stay tuned! Thanks for watching.

[@rebelyell1970]

I definitely fee ya, stainless damascus is my white whale! Can't wait to see the argon trick. Works great for stainless in my kiln. Thank you for another great video!

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Thanks for watching!

[@chewyakarieckenicholas6049]

Thanks for showing that we are all human and proving that we're all human and we make mistakes

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I knew this would be a tough nut to crack. It will take some time to master. Even then, like Josh said, failure rate is very high. Thanks for watching.

[@TopCodClips-jk7mf]

My favorite piece you have made was the copper Damascus elvish sword absolutely beautiful

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Stay tuned, some incredible builds coming up in the second half of this year, including two swords. 👍

[@frankcuba5236]

I fill a canister with argon and drop them in one by one as soon as i done a surface grind. Then I top off again with some more argon just to be sure and seal it up! 20 layers restack with the same process. 120layers. Also do semi with 15N20 and AEB-L. then a san-mai over a core of AEB-L. they get really nice.

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I'm going to try the flow-through argon that Josh suggested. We'll see how it goes!

[@the_fafologist]

Such a pain to do for sure. I tried years ago with unknown stainless and had some success but not repeatable. Lots of time lost and materials turned to ash lol. Hope you figure it out. I would love to try again.

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I’ll definitely be trying again and taking you all for the ride! Thanks for watching

[@LittleGreyWolfForge]

Ohhhh heat treating is gonna be hell…. Ps first!

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Actually the heat treat is the easiest part. It’s the forging that’s tough. Thanks for watching.

[@LittleGreyWolfForge]

@@TyrellKnifeworksoh! Forgot you had an oven 🤪. Silly me. Hard without it though….

[@brysonalden5414]

I may never try stainless damascus, especially after learning from your video how technical it needs to be (sheesh, Argon through the handle???). Kudos for trying it.

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Don't worry, I will prevail... eventually! 😜. Thanks for watching, Bryson.

[@Echowhiskeyone]

The best thing about failure is what you learn from it. If you learn nothing, then it's a big waste of time and material. Never be afraid of failure, be afraid of not learning from the failure.

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Absolutely true. I learned a ton this time and I'm hopeful for attempt #2. Thanks for watching.

[@TopCodClips-jk7mf]

Hey man I see on your website you don’t do custom orders that are ones you have already done. Do you think you could make a copper Damascus Viking ax

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I have the Damascus Viking axe from the Chopper Challenge still available. Email me if you’re interested.

[@MuppetSlayer]

Saw those on your desk and meant to ask about them lol - Dan

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Yeah, a failed project and reminder of what I need to conquer! 😜. Thanks for watching.

[@cae2487]

If I were in your shoes I'd probably try everything I possibly could to try to keep any oxygen or as much as possible away from the billet. I'd do the singed stainless foil wrapped tightly around the billet and then put that inside of my sheet metal canister. The other thought I had would to be to find some really tough hardwood to put on the bottom die of the forge press. It wouldn't need to be a huge thick piece but when you go to set your forge weld initially the wood catching on fire would help to consume the oxygen in the area while doing your initial squeeze. I don't know whether that would help or not but in my mind anything that decreases the oxygen in the immediate vicinity of that stainless billet would be a good thing. Anyways I look forward to seeing your next attempt. If all else fails I guess you could go the damasteel route and try all of this with powdered metal although I haven't spent any time looking into their process which would most likely end up with a different huge learning curve unto itself lol

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I don't think the wood on the press is a good idea, it would just be crushed and you wouldn't get a solid press on the most important part of setting the weld. I'll make this work or keep trying until I do. Stay tuned!

[@richardabbott5601]

I'm trying to make a push dagger. But I'm not sure if I'm supposed to put an edge on it before heat treatment. I know it's a stupid question, but could you help me? Thanks

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

With any build (except stainless steel) I’m doing 80% of my bevel pre-HT. Keep the edge the thickness of a nickel.

[@richardabbott5601]

@TyrellKnifeworks thank you. And can't wait to see you work out the stainless damascus

[@mikejanzer6696]

Dennis what Stainless combo did you finally end up using?

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

This is CPM154 and AEBL. Stay tuned, I’ll be trying this again soon.

[@mikejanzer6696]

@@TyrellKnifeworks sounds good, will wait and watch the next video then give it a try

[@vrillionaire88]

I thought that oxygen might be the issue, mostly because steel will weld itself in a complete vacuum. I don't smith, I'm in a completely different field, but every time I find issues in my own field, it's always a lack of understanding on a chemical or photo-physical level. Innovation is paid for with failure, keep on keeping on

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I'll keep trying until I get it! Thanks for watching.

[@gaspermihelj3613]

i successfully made some stainless damascus. from my experience: dont put the stainless on the outside couse it will develop cracks. i usually make a thick weld all around the billet to prevent air, but be careful couse if u heat the steel too much it may oxidize already and not weld. i use stick welding, mma? i dont know how its called. and i think stainless might require a bit higher temperatures then high carbon, since im using a coal forge. im mostly using 1.4034/X46CR13 stainless and file or bearing steel. cheers

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I’ve already got sone improvements to the process. Stay tuned.

[@jamesafseth326]

I've only tried (salvaged) 431 SS with 1084, in an attempt to make SS/high carbon damascus, but it was an epic failure as well...I learned not to try it again, until I know more about the process

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Stainless over carbon is much easier and one I do all the time. I usually use 416 as the cladding though. All hardenable stainless is a totally different beast. Thanks for watching!

[@jamesafseth326]

@TyrellKnifeworks I wasn't trying to do cladding, but it certainly would have helped me learn the process...nothing like jumping into something and getting in way over your head...like you, I'm self taught, from the KZbin university (your videos have been one of my sources, as well as Kyle Royer)...maybe sometime I'll attempt that SS/ high carbon damascus again

[@mulepowerforge]

Imagine trying to make stainless mosaic. That’d probably be next to impossible!

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

Certainly not impossible, Josh has done it, but it’s REALLY hard. Thanks for watching

[@paullmight42]

i don't know shit about fuck, but i think you picked some pretty difficult steels to try this with. I think most oems use like an 8cr or 9cr when they produce damascus blades...i am sure you are also aware of damasteel and damacore as well(stuff is gorgeous)

[@TyrellKnifeworks]

I selected these steels because they have the best contrast and others (Josh) have used them successfully before. AEBL is not the problem, the crucible steels like CPM154 are the issue, since they crumble so easily under high heat. I'll get it working eventually. 😉. Thanks for watching.