I promise we will be doing video instructions soon, but here’s a synopsis on my process for making a billet of simple, random pattern damascus.

PICK THAT SHIT. Get two types of steel in bar stock form. I like to use 10-series, usually 1095 or 1084, because it takes a very dark etch in the ferric and even darker in the coffee. (More on that later.) Your other steel should be 15n20, or another steel with a high nickel content. (15n20 is essentially 1080 with 2% nickel.) Nickel allows the steel to resist the etch and stay bright, making that nice contrasting pattern.

I usually choose 1/8” 1095 and .049” 15n20. I use 1.5” wide bar stock.

CUT THAT SHIT UP. 4-6” sections. Doesn’t fuckin’ matter, just make sure they’re all the same size so you don’t create cold shuts by letting different lengths overlap each other.

CLEAN THAT SHIT. That dull grey color on your bar stock? Mill scale and oxides. Oxides are the enemy of a weld. Use a 2×72 or a similar grinding method and make that shit shiny. Both sides. Edges. All of it. Then, clean it with acetone.

STACK THAT SHIT. Make a laminate billet. All that means in stack the steel on top of each other and alternate your metals. If you stack 2 pieces of 1095 on top of each other, you created one thicker layer of 1095. You need to alternate. Also, if you put the thinner bars on the outside of the billet, they have a tendency to try and bow away from the billet as its heated. Keep your 1/8” as the outside layers.

TACK THAT SHIT UP. Clamp it up tight. As tight as you can. Gaps allow in oxygen and remember, oxygen is your enemy. Clamp it, run a few beads along either side of the billet, (perpendicular to your layers.) and one or two across the front and back. Now is also a fantastic time to weld a piece of rebar or something on the back to be a very convenient handle.

FLUX THAT SHIT. So, flux is not 100% necessary, but it is helpful. There’s a few methods. Borax can be sprinkled on the billet after its reached a dull red color in the forge, allow it to form a glass like case on the outside, stick your billet back in. Borax flux will get in and clean up the surfaces it can touch. This is a big benefit, it will clean up a dirty area. The downside is borax will eat away the lining of your forge over time.

I prefer to use kerosene. Kerosene will not clean up dirty areas, but you already cleaned that shit up, and you’re confident. You’re fearless. Kerosene that shit. After your billet is tack’d up, let it soak in some kerosene, completed submerged, for a couple minutes. Stick it in the forge. There will be fire. You’re fine; you’re a bladesmith my dude. The kerosene forms and oily layer that burns off in the forge. That layer protects the surfaces of your steel from oxidation just like the borax did, but it won’t harm the inside lining of your expensive ass forge.

You can do a dry weld. I’ve done it (sort of by accident, I just completely forgot to stick it in the kerosene and stuck it right in the forge, but it was a perfect billet after.) As long as your surfaces are clean and no oxygen can get between your layers, you don’t really need a flux. It’ll weld.

GET THAT SHIT HOT. Wait until your forge is at welding temperature. (2000F) or a bright orange/yellow/white that kinda hurts to look at. If you stick it in there before your forge is hot, you’re just begging scale to build between your layers. Now, WAIT. Fucking WAIT, dude. Carbon steel forge welds at 2000F. I run a 3 burner propane forge; I will leave a large billet (lets say my stack is 25 layers, about 4” tall,) for 20 minutes.

WELD THAT SHIT. Is it hot? Turn the lights off in your shop. Shut off as much light as possible. Take your stack out of the forge. It will be that same yellow, almost white color that hurts a bit to look at. If it is, you’re ready.

Setting your welds is a gentle but deliberate thing. I use a 12 ton press from Coal Iron, but you can do it by hand if you don’t want to buy machines. Sounds tiring though haha.

Your initial welds should be taps with the press. Just taps. Don’t try to move the steel, just give it some love taps with the FLAT dies. All down the billet, front to back, nice and even. Stick that shit back in the forge. Now, I like to wait 5 minutes, and do another, ever so slightly more aggressive, set of love taps. At this point, you should have one solid, forge welded, homogenous piece of steel. You’ll notice that the color throughout the billet is consistent and even. Dark spots would show a spot that isn’t welded. If you put it on the anvil and give it a good hit with the hammer, it should ring a little bit. Dull ”thunks” are a sign of a bad weld.

DRAW THAT SHIT OUT. I do a couple passes with the flat dies, giving it the full force the press has now, and start lengthening the billet. I then switch to the rounding/drawing dies. Mine are pretty aggressive, which I’ve found actually makes some light laddering happen in my billets, which I love. Anyway, heat, draw, repeat, until the whole billet is to the thickness you want, whether you plan on forging the blade from there or you want to cut it up and restack it. If you want to restack, go back to your flatting dies and make it as flat as possible.

CLEAN THAT SHIT AGAIN. If you’re restacking, clean ALL that forge scale off the billet. Make everything uniform and flat. Make it clean just like we did at the beginning there. Now, follow the exact same steps. Just cut it up into however many pieces you want, laminate them, tack them up, and forge weld again. You can go as high as you want on layer count.

(I have found that 100 layers is a great, intricate, but easy to see pattern. 300 is getting very fine with the lines but still beautiful. I went to 600 once in a standard laminate billet and found the pattern was so fine it looked like static on an old TV. You can do what you like, I just prefer 50-300 layers aesthetically.)

Forge your blade, heat treat it, and grind in your bevels like you normally would. My grit progression for bevels is typically 36, 80, 120, 220. Get as many scratches out as possible, use your ferric as a test etch or layout fluid between grits to show you where your scratches are.

HAND SAND THAT SHIT. Ferric chloride is unforgiving as HELL. It will show you every. single. fucking. scratch. After sanding to 220 on the grinder, I go to the hand sanding. Grit progression 120, 220, 400, 600. Go as high as you want, but I’d say 400 is the minimum for a nice clean looking damascus.

Now, you can finally etch. Etch before you put your handle on, because ferric will stain most handle materials. That, and if there’s any gapping in your handle, the ferric will get under it and slowly corrode your shit. Also, clean your blade thoroughly with acetone or isopropyl alcohol before the etch. Oils from your skin can get on there and cause un-even etching.

I use Ferric Chloride. I bought it on amazon; I don’t remember the % but I diluted it with distilled water about 50/50. I do 3, ten minute cycles in the etch. Use a shop rag between each cycle and water and scrub off all those oxides. (You’ll see black shit on the shop towel. Scrub till you don’t.) Stick it back in. Repeat.

Now, after your third cycle, use windex to neutralize the acid, clean it all off again. Take some 2000 grit sand paper and back it with something stiff like duct tape. Use this to bring out the pattern more. Your 15n20 sits slightly proud of the 10 series because of the etch (which is another word for corrosion) of the steel. The stiff backing lets the sandpaper hit just the 15n20 and brighten it up.

Congrats! You did it! Now you can leave it as is and have a billet of a dark-ish grey and bright silver, or, if you’re like me, you want HIGH contrast.

Get some cheap ass instant coffee. Use the whole damn container in some water. Let it cool off so you don’t ruin your temper. You can leave the blade in there for a couple hours or overnight. All depends how dark you want it to get. I leave mine overnight, and use my hard backed 2000 grit paper one more time.

Now throw a bad ass handle on there, and show us what you made!

Make shit. Stay sane.

-Caleb, SIAOF