Damascus technique question

[KamValleyForge]

Hello, I'm pretty new to making damascus here, just made my third billet, and wondering if anyone knows if what I have in mind will work how I imagine it. I currently have a 10 layer piece of 1084/15n20 and I plan on drawing it out twice as long as the blade I want (for a Quillon dagger), then twisting it and forge welding it back to itself with a piece of 15n20 in the middle to create a sort of "faked" feather pattern with a brighter center ridge. here's a rough sketch of what I mean:

Screenshot from 2025-06-01 16-10-53.png

drive.google.com

 

[weo]

Welcome KamValley. Not sure what you're asking, hard to know what you are imagining, but if you are good at keeping your forging/grinding even, that could be a pretty cool pattern.
Are you planning on doing a birds beak weld at the tip?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Welcome KamValley - fill out your profile so we know where you live and a bit about you.

You will probaably get the best results just folding the twist back and forge welding it together. That creates a herringbone damascus.

Your current plan won't look exactly like feather damascus because the twists will run more from side to side than end to end like a feather pattern.

However, I say go for it and see what it ends up looking like. It may end up looking like a regular bird feather.

Obviously, grind the mating surfaces flat and clean before the sandwich weld.

I'll move this to Shop Talk.

 

[KamValleyForge]

Welcome KamValley. Not sure what you're asking, hard to know what you are imagining, but if you are good at keeping your forging/grinding even, that could be a pretty cool pattern.
Are you planning on doing a birds beak weld at the tip?

Trying to make the damascus turn out right for the blade of this dagger I'm planning: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fWt7ys2aOC7ta3HcTSMYf67t5IZqNQpn/view?usp=sharing
Made a test piece of twisted pattern last night as a theory test, and it seems like it would work. Not sure exactly what you mean by a birds beak weld though.

 

[KamValleyForge]

Welcome KamValley - fill out your profile so we know where you live and a bit about you.

You will probaably get the best results just folding the twist back and forge welding it together. That creates a herringbone damascus.

Your current plan won't look exactly like feather damascus because the twists will run more from side to side than end to end like a feather pattern.

However, I say go for it and see what it ends up looking like. It may end up looking like a regular bird feather.

Obviously, grind the mating surfaces flat and clean before the sandwich weld.

I'll move this to Shop Talk.

I thought of just folding it but then unless I do two separate opposing twists the lines will end up running the same way. I didn't do super tight twists in the test piece and dont really plan to in the main piece either since it turned out like this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j6f8rX9CQiVeNANFTxgorJABU18jVk8o/view?usp=sharing
Yes, i plan on cleaning it all up before i do the sandwich, though since I dont have a welder to tack them in place I'll be using steel wire and wrapping the ends tight to keep the billet together in the forge. It doesnt hold them as solid as a tack but its enough for what i'm doing so far.

 

[weo]

Good afternoon, Kam. You won't get the feather pattern you are looking for with a twisted billet. As you grind into the twisted billet, the pattern changes, turning into a bunch of chevrons when you get towards the middle of the billet. Here's a link I came across that will demonstrate how a twist pattern changes as you grind deeper:

Damascus Manipulation

 

[jnaught]

There was a maker (now deceased) who lived near my parents who did nearly this exact technique with two bars of cable damascus. He would untwist and then reverse twist one of the cable lengths to get the opposing pattern. If you google “Bobby Rico Knives” there are still some images of his work floating around if you want a preview of what it might look like. It was a neat look.

 

[KamValleyForge]

There was a maker (now deceased) who lived near my parents who did nearly this exact technique with two bars of cable damascus. He would untwist and then reverse twist one of the cable lengths to get the opposing pattern. If you google “Bobby Rico Knives” there are still some images of his work floating around if you want a preview of what it might look like. It was a neat look.

That is pretty cool, looks like pretty much what I'm planning

 

[KamValleyForge]

Good afternoon, Kam. You won't get the feather pattern you are looking for with a twisted billet. As you grind into the twisted billet, the pattern changes, turning into a bunch of chevrons when you get towards the middle of the billet. Here's a link I came across that will demonstrate how a twist pattern changes as you grind deeper:

Damascus Manipulation

Hey weo, about the grind changing the pattern, i'm going to try and do as little grinding as possible to keep the pattern how I want it, going to forge to shape as far as i can without going too far of course. Hoping this will keep the outside twist pattern as close as i can get to how I want it. I will admit that I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at with that link you sent though.