Buying Steel for Damascus

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mpcoppin

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Dec 8, 2017
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I’m wanting to try to do some Damascus in my garage. I’ll be doing it by hand so I’m thinking I need to find thin stuff to get as many layers as possible without making my stack so thick that it will take me forever to draw it out.

I can get 15n20 pretty thin (down to 1/16) from Alpha but I’m not sure what to use as my 2nd metal. I wanted to use 1084 but they’ve only got 1084 down to 1/8. I thought maybe I could use 80CrV2 but I’ve heard that 80CrV2 doesn’t show much contrast from 15n20. I’ve avoided 1095 because the hypereutectoid is harder to nail the heat treat.

I’m looking for some guidance here.

Is 1/8 too thick?
Is 1/16 too thin?
Should I go with 1075?
Maybe 1095?
Will 80CrV2 look ok with a low layer count?
 
80crv2 will contrast, but not as well as 1084. If you use 1095, you get a billet with carbon in the 0.8- 0.85 range, so heat treat isn’t an issue.

1075/1080 has similar manganese to 1084, so it contrasts well.

people use mixes from 50/50 to 90/10 depending on the desired pattern. I personally like double the dark steel compared to 15n20. So 1/8” with 1/16”.

I’m no expert on Damascus. Just a few billets so far, but I’ve watched the effects of combos for years, and what others recommend.
 
Matching layer thickness is not all that important. I find that going a tad thicker on the 1084 works good as each alloy takes a different amount of force to forge. So you match them up so when your done you get the layer thickness you need or want. If you start with the same thickness on both layers your finished product will have layers of different thicknesses.

We also sell 15n20 in large volumes to a ton of Damascus makers.
 
mpcoppin said:
I’m looking for some guidance here
Click to expand...

You'll at least get a lot of opinions. Hopefully you can pull some guidance out of it. I'll agree with both of the above.

You said:
mpcoppin said:
I need to find thin stuff to get as many layers as possible without making my stack so thick that it will take me forever to draw it out.
Click to expand...
but there are still a lot of variables here. How many layers do you want to end up with? (IMO, much over 300, some patterns can start to get washed out.) How thick of a stack are you able to draw out effectively?
I'd suggest doing some experiments with different starting layer arrangements to find out what works best for you.
 
From my experience doing it by hand a few times now, over 3/4” stack becomes a pain. Things start moving easier once under 1/2” in the process, so I aim between 1/2”-3/4” as starting stack height to balance getting layers in vs having it too thick to work. At this point I’d rather restack to get layers than start thicker for them.

I’ve been going thinner with my starting layers and have not found going thinner gave me any issues. I’ve only done random and twist though, so I can’t speak to if you wanted a pattern that maintained more defined layering.

On steel types, I’ve done 1084/15n20 and 1095/15n20. The 1095 is available thinner than 1084. The 1095 didn’t give me any issues with heat treat, I think due to the balancing from the 15n20. I’m about to try 1075/15n20, which will also be the thinnest I’ve tried. Usaknifemaker had some 1075 “shim” stock that is only .02 that I’m pairing with .065 15n20. I can’t report out yet on if it will be successful.
 
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