Interesting, on my laptop computer, the article pops right up, but not on my phone....
Of course. If it's possible to post a pdf, I'll try when I get home. Or i could e-mail it to you if you want to pm me the address.
Well, he just lost a few of us when he said that he used a steel with very low carbon that probably hardens differently than the very shallow hardening W2. Thats kind of like saying that you are going to judge a series of red wines and having a bottle of Welch's grape juice in the mix.
This is true, they do equalize. Carbon will move throughout the steel. Like water seeking its level, it will move from areas of high to low carbon until they are equal, and also be steadily lost to the forge atmosphere unless it is tightly controlled. The rate that it equalizes is dependent on the difference in carbon between the two, the thickness that it has to travel through, and the temperature. When you are at welding temp, and have many layers, each of those layers is so thin, that the carbon dissolves into it pretty much evenly within a very short timeframe. The difference in colors displayed after etching is attributed to the difference of other elements in the steel, which tend to not migrate easily. Moran’s early work using O1/mild steel probably was at best an average of the carbon content of the two steels. I do recall from a video he had made, that he was putting a piece of O1 into the middle during the last weld so the primary edge steel was O1. I don’t know if he did that with all of them, but that would certainly help create at least a decent edge. Either way, knowledge of pattern welding and metallurgy in general has made some pretty huge advances since then. It looks cool and all, but I’m willing to bet that 99% of people doing it are making cool looking steel that in the end doesn’t perform as well as either of the parent steels.
Well, you also had the fairy tale about the "damascus cutting effect" and such.
In 2009, pretty much everyone that I talked to who was making the stuff was using a mixture like we use today.Assuming the 3-2 ratio between O-1 and 1018, your BEST hope would be like .67 carbon to start off. Compared that to a low starting point of .80-.81 if you use good 1084/5 and 15N20.
Kevin Cashen says that he still uses thick layers, starting with 3 1/2 inch pieces of O1 and 2 of L6. Not sure how he breaks it up when he adds )2 to the mix like I have seen him do lately. I typically would do 8 1/4 inch layers of 1084 and 14 pieces of .072 15N20 doubled up to get 7 .144. layers. I have to buy some 15N20 so I will try to get some .156 this time. Still have enough 1/4" 1084 in that 1.5 x 1/4 x 48 for like 18 more billets plus enough of the old Schrade NOS 1/4 x 1 x 36 for like 40 smaller stacks. LOLMoran started with 1/2" stock, three pieces. That's a lot of time at welding temp to get enough layers. I "cheated" when I went to Zowada's and we made my first billet from 1/4" stock. There couldn't be squat left for carbon in there. And, it's bothered me for many years I have no idea of the carbon left in there when I finished making a billet.
I had just hoped in my years-long absence someone had done a graduate study on the topic or someone of note would create samples and have a cousin or something in a metals lab...
If one searches the article cited above, in addition to the regular journal article there's a pic of a poster-board style display. It leaves me guessing it was presented at some scientific conference regarding Materials Science. A grad school project on a budget, he likely lacked funds to get post-production chemistries run and estimated the migration based on the amount and distribution of pearlite instead. Not the best way, but still telling as the carbon keeps creeping toward the edges as it's burnt away during forging.
Well, you also had the fairy tale about the "damascus cutting effect" and such.
I don't know what adding O2 to his normal mix does beyond giving you better dark color. A lot of guys in Europe use O2 and 15N20 or its German sibling 75Ni8.
