How do I create/make Red Damascus Pattern?

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Yep, hadn't heard it called 'red damascus' but it is just selective copper plating of some of the layers...

-Eric
 
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Most of the blades I have seen were copper plated similarly to the video. The copper bonds to the nickel and not to the steel. The copper can then be patinated to get several colors, including red.
 
I don't know the details but the copper/nickel system is interesting as they are completely soluble throughout the system . No eutectics or eutectoids, martensite etc. Should be easy to plate just the nickel .
 
If you like the look, check out some of the copper/carbon steel mokume. Ariel has some nice pieces.... I played with making it a little. Tempermental to say the least. The copper likes to squirt.

You have to use thin steel, shim stock and the like, with thin copper layers or copper wire in the stack. Put it all in a box with a little flux in the mix, and then heat it all up. Once it gets to temp, the copper flows into all the little nooks and crannies and can all be squished flat. Pretty much requires a press. Hammer blows are a recipe for squirting copper.

I saw an example of a chunk of cable heated up and opened a slight amount. Basically the reverse of what is done prior to hammering a cable billet. Then the cable is brought back up to forge welding temps and dunked in a crucible of molten copper. More or less quenching the steel in the molten copper I guess. I can't find the pics right now but the resulting 'billet' was successfully drawn out from there. I don't know how messy the whole affair was but the stuff sure looks neat when it is etched and polished up.

Ariel had a how to on here at one point. My tapatalk stinks for searches and PM's lately. But I'd bet it would still pop up.

Of course I'm off on a different pony at this point.

-Eric
 
I sure do enjoy using materials with colouring like that in my folders. Well when I can get it. It only happens out of doing a common approach to etching but with some sort of previous procedure. It seems to me I got a "strange" result one time when I etched a blade in ferric chloride that I had etched some mokume with . Does that make sense? Any simple non forging metal colouring doables you can pass on to me, would be great. Frank
 
Frank Niro said:
I sure do enjoy using materials with colouring like that in my folders. Well when I can get it. It only happens out of doing a common approach to etching but with some sort of previous procedure. It seems to me I got a "strange" result one time when I etched a blade in ferric chloride that I had etched some mokume with . Does that make sense? Any simple non forging metal colouring doables you can pass on to me, would be great. Frank
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If you etch copper with FeCl and then etch carbon steel, you will get some copper plating going on. It's a light little plating almost like a deposition plate with a CuSulfate solution...

-Eric
 
do a deep etch on the Damascus then neutralize the blade and clean it back up. you need to get all the residue out of the pattern. now take some straight ferric and put some copper in it. after 5 or ten minutes remove the copper, and dilute the ferric/copper solution with four parts water. stir and then let sit until the bubbles are gone. dip your clean polished blade into the ferric/copper solution. keep checking until you have the desired amount of copper on the blade. don't freak if there is copper on the entire blade. when you have determined that the amount of copper "plating" is sufficient remove the blade and neutralize in tsp. use a hard backer and sand the blade with some 1500-2000 grit paper. To get the blue, heat the blade in some nitre bluing salts and your done. the hot salt will turn the carbon still blue and give the copper a red tint.
 
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