Damascus steel has a legendary aura useful for making damascus sword. It originated in the Near East and is the type of steel that was once used by the Medieval Crusaders and other warriors of the ancient times. The material had a plastic quality but with excellent edge retention. They derive their name from their characteristic “damask” watery pattern on the blades.
For centuries, the formula for making Damascus steel, from which Damascus sword were forged, remained a secret. The ancient metallurgists or Alchemists were rigidly secretive about their methods. It was so secretive that the formula was lost with the advent of modern weaponry!
Using modern scientific methods, metallurgists have finally unraveled the secrets behind Damascus steel and contemporary blacksmiths are once again able to fashion Damascus swords and knives using the same steel and methods that were used by the ancient blacksmiths of Persia and other Near Eastern countries.
About Damascus Steel
Damascus steel has very high carbon content, somewhere in the region of 1% to 2%. Most of the ordinary steel in use in the modern world contains just a fraction of carbon. Damascus steel was also forged and hammered at relatively low temperatures, somewhere in the region of 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit. That should be a no-brainer as the ancient metallurgists obviously didn’t have the powerful and sophisticated heating techniques that we use today. Finally, the Damascus blades were reheated to about the same temperature in which they were forged and then cooled rapidly by quenching them in a fluid. The quenching was done in what was known as ‘Dragon Blood’. Ancient folklore had it that the best Damascus blades had been quenched in ‘dragon blood’ which somehow imbued them with magical qualities.
In the Medieval world, metallurgy, blacksmithing and craftsmanship merged with superstition to create gory tales and techniques. The swords were typically quenched with donkey’s urine or the urine from red-headed boys. Some medieval metallurgists even recommended plunging the sword into a strong slave in order to transfer their powers into the swords.
In the contemporary world, the Damascus sword is mostly a souvenir and decoration piece. It is very easy to fashion in your blacksmith’s workshop. Here is a 7-step guide on how to forge a pattern-welded Damascus sword in your workshop, just like the blacksmiths of yore. Of course, without the special urine!
Step 1: Choosing the materials to forge
One of the qualities of Damascus steel is its high carbon content. The actual steel formulation was in deed lost more than 200 years ago. However, modern Damascus steels feature a combination of various layers of steel that have been forge-welded together. Using these brings out the mottled look. For example, you can use a combination of 1084 (0.84% carbon) and 15N20 (high nickel alloy) when forging a Damascus sword. The alloy is deep-hardening and also becomes darker on etching to create the high contrast with the much lighter 15N20. The 15N20 is simply a 1075 steel that has a nickel composition of about 2% to 3%. This creates incredible toughness and makes it resistant to etching, creating a bright silver layer. The combination of 1084 and 1075 (15N20) welds easily and also lends itself to ease of manipulation which will come in handy when creating the pattern-welded design on the Damascus sword.
Step 2: Forge the tang or handle of the Damascus sword
This should be done at the very beginning of the forging process as the subsequent work of forging the Damascus sword will be more engrossing. This is initial step simply entails some rough blacksmithing.
Hammer the tang in such a way that you won’t have sharp angles on it. Sharp angles can easily lead to stress fractures forming at the angle. These stress fractures may eventually lead to the breakage of the blade just at the handle. When forging the tang, it is therefore prudent to have the corners rounded.
The tang can be formed using edge hammering technique. This will allow for both the bottom and top parts to compress more evenly.
Step 3: Prepare the billet for the first forge-weld
Start by preparing the billet for the first forge weld by stacking the alternating layers of the 1084 and 15N20 steels so as to realize your desired number of layers in the billet. The number of layers can be as low as 3 or as many as 25 for the initial weld. Select the layer count carefully in order to realize the desired effect in the finished Damascus blade.
The thicker of the two materials should preferably be placed on the top and the bottom of the billet as this will help preserve the heat. It also helps minimize the warp as the billet reaches the welding temperature.
Step 4: Draw out the blade of the Damascus sword
Once you are done the initial forge weld, you can now proceed to reheating the blade and then drawing it out into a rectangular bar. The size of the rectangular bar will be determined by the desired number of layers in the finished billet as well as the finished sword size.
During the drawing out process, you can hot-cut the bar and fold it upon itself so as to increase (double) the layer count. You can accomplish the forge welds by welding with flux (wet weld) or without flux (dry weld). When forging the billet into a rectangular bar, you can reheat it as many times as possible so as to achieve the desired length as well as width for the blade. Repeat the welding process until you have drawn the billet out to the desired dimensions. Drawing out also entails hammering the metal bar’s thickness into length.
The drawing out requires several heats. As you cannot heat the entire blade, you can begin from one end of the blade and heat it. You can start from the tip end or from the tang.
Step 5: Hammering
After heating up the billet, place it on the anvil’s edge and hammer strongly across the blade. Hammer across the blade in even strokes as you move the sword up. Continue hammering the red-hot part of the blade. Once you have reached the desired width, length and thickness, you can move over to the next step.
Step 6: Grinding and the Right Profile
When your billet has reached the right dimensions, you can now grind it to the desired profile. Start by marking out how you want the final blade of the damascus sword to appear. The parts that you will mark out should have enough thick steel. Before you grind, you have to be sure that the blade will have sufficient material.
You can begin the profiling using an angle grinder which has a thin cut-off disc. You have to profile carefully to get very close to the actual shape without jeopardizing the blade. It’s safer to leave excess material on the blade that you can later finish off with the use of a grinder.
After grinding with the angle grinder, you finish on the profile using a belt sander or grinder. If the angle grinder has a grinding wheel, you can also use it to finish your blade.
Step 7: Apply the Damascus Pattern
There are numerous kinds of Damascus patterns that you can apply and each requires different layers. You can apply everything from random patterns to twist patterns, ladder patterns, raindrop patterns and many more. There are countless patterns that you can apply. Check them out and learn the best techniques that you can use to weld them on your finished blade.
Step 8: Apply Heat Treatment
Once you have forged the Damascus sword, it is now time to prepare it for heat treatment. Start with three thermal cycles that relieve the stresses that were imparted on the blade when the Damascus was forged. These thermal cycles entail heating the blade to a non-magnetic state and then letting it cool for a few minutes.
During the heat treatment, the blade is heated to up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit in a high temperature salt. If the high temperature salt is not available, heat it to a non-magnetic. It’s then held for about 3 minutes and then quenched in pre-heated oil. The blade is then allowed to cool down.
This process is repeated twice. After the third heating, you can now let the blade cool down to the room temperature. This is the normalization stage. This process drastically reduces the chances of the blade warping during the hardening stage.
After the cooling, the Damascus blade can now be annealed. Once again, the blade is heated to a non-magnetic state and then immersed in vermiculite in order to slow down the cooling process. After about six hours, the steel will have been annealed. After the annealing, the blade can be drilled or ground with relative ease.
After the hardening and tempering of the Damascus sword via the processes above, you can finish-ground and hand-sand it. This will allow it to be etched in order to reveal the Damascus pattern on the blade.