W-Based Mosaic WIP

Graham Fredeen

Well-Known Member
Hey Bruce,

Thought I might come over here and share one of my projects with everyone. Hope you don't mind.

I know I've gotten a lot of great valuable information and ideas from your past WIP threads, and always look forward to seeing them, so thought I'd share one that uses some things I picked up from your threads, and maybe pass along some things and ideas to others while I'm at it.

So folks, here we go:

Technically speaking this pattern will be a mosaic, based on a modifid W pattern that was re-squared on a 45° bias, 4-wayed, and then tiled out.

This pattern starts just like it would if you were making a standard W pattern, except for varying the layer composition of the billet.

The starting billet:

MosaicWIP001.jpg


MosaicWIP002.jpg


18 layers of 1095 and 10 layers of 15N20. You'll notice that the middle of the billet is straight 1095, with alternating 1095/15N20 on the edges. This modification will create different thicknesses in layers and will add to the pattern development. Never underestimate what varying layer stacks/layer thickness can do for a pattern.

In for welding:

MosaicWIP004.jpg


Right after the first welding press:

MosaicWIP005.jpg


I grind off the mig welds to prevent billet contamination:

MosaicWIP006.jpg


Forge things down into a rough square:

MosaicWIP007.jpg


Next I'll use squaring dies to start squaring the billet on a 45° bias. This forces in the corners of the billet and starts distorting the layers for a sharper W effect. I picked up this from Bruce's W pattern thread.

MosaicWIP008.jpg


MosaicWIP010.jpg


Here's the billet after the rough trip through the squaring dies:

MosaicWIP013.jpg


The billet will now be rotated 90° from its original orientation and drawn out (the "distorted" layers are now in a "vertical" orientation):

MosaicWIP015.jpg


The billet drawn out and ready for a cut and restack:

MosaicWIP016.jpg


MosaicWIP017.jpg


The result of that manipulation:

MosaicWIP018.jpg


I'll post more later.
 
Sweet!

Hey Bruce,

Thought I might come over here and share one of my projects with everyone. Hope you don't mind.

I know I've gotten a lot of great valuable information and ideas from your past WIP threads, and always look forward to seeing them, so thought I'd share one that uses some things I picked up from your threads, and maybe pass along some things and ideas to others while I'm at it.

So folks, here we go:

Technically speaking this pattern will be a mosaic, based on a modifid W pattern that was re-squared on a 45° bias, 4-wayed, and then tiled out.

This pattern starts just like it would if you were making a standard W pattern, except for varying the layer composition of the billet.

The starting billet:

MosaicWIP001.jpg


MosaicWIP002.jpg


18 layers of 1095 and 10 layers of 15N20. You'll notice that the middle of the billet is straight 1095, with alternating 1095/15N20 on the edges. This modification will create different thicknesses in layers and will add to the pattern development. Never underestimate what varying layer stacks/layer thickness can do for a pattern.

In for welding:

MosaicWIP004.jpg


Right after the first welding press:

MosaicWIP005.jpg


I grind off the mig welds to prevent billet contamination:

MosaicWIP006.jpg


Forge things down into a rough square:

MosaicWIP007.jpg


Next I'll use squaring dies to start squaring the billet on a 45° bias. This forces in the corners of the billet and starts distorting the layers for a sharper W effect. I picked up this from Bruce's W pattern thread.

MosaicWIP008.jpg


MosaicWIP010.jpg


Here's the billet after the rough trip through the squaring dies:

MosaicWIP013.jpg


The billet will now be rotated 90° from its original orientation and drawn out (the "distorted" layers are now in a "vertical" orientation):

MosaicWIP015.jpg


The billet drawn out and ready for a cut and restack:

MosaicWIP016.jpg


MosaicWIP017.jpg


The result of that manipulation:

MosaicWIP018.jpg


I'll post more later.

You never cease to amaze me, Graham. I can't imagine what you'll come up wiht when you get a big press!

Dana
 
You know how badly I want a big press Dana... some times it drives me crazy, lol. I find myself looking and calcluating and figuring... but it still comes down to needing 220v and more space. Soon, hopefully.

Alrighty, Here's the continuation:

Cut into 5 pieces, the scale cleaned off, and re-stacked:

MosaicWIP022.jpg


Welded up and drawn out:

MosaicWIP026.jpg


Here's the result of that restack, welding, and drawing procedure:

MosaicWIP028.jpg


You can start to see the formation of the "Ws" with the bold pattern in the middle.

One more cut and restack will get this to the proper "layer" count.
 
Sweeeeet was that said already :D, I love these threads I know I learn a little trick here and there from these. Thanks for taking the time to do this Graham. Also if Bruce minds Tracy put up a Hotwork area just for us metal beaters.
 
Looking Good Graham. I'll have to try this pattern myself. Thanks for the cool tricks and for giving me some of the credit for the basics. OK get back to work! More More
 
Thanks folks. I've gotten alot from others posting things like this, so it only seems fitting to give a little back. I think that's what makes the knife community so great, and unique.

Here's the continuation:

The billet cut into 5 pieces again and restacked:

MosaicWIP030.jpg


This is then welded up and drawn out into a square. Now comes time for the "re-squaring" on a 45° bias procedure mentioned above. This will take the pattern from going straigt across the billet and make it go diagonally, corner to corner.

MosaicWIP034.jpg


This is then drawn into a square cross section and will be drawn out and cut into 4 pieces and 4-wayed to get the final pattern.

MosaicWIP035.jpg


And a look at the pattern progression:

MosaicWIP039.jpg


This will be 1 corner of the final mosaic tile.

Time to go fire up the forge and draw things out a little more and do the 4-waying.
 
Alrighty, here's some more:

I drew the re-squared billet out a bit more:

MosaicWIP041.jpg


I then cut the billet into 4 pieces, and etched the end to see the pattern/orientation. These pieces were then ground and cleaned up and stacked into a billet. This process is called 4-waying:

MosaicWIP043.jpg


This was then welded and drawn down into a square bar. This bar will then be cut into pieces and "tiled out." Unfortunately, I didn't get to that this weekend due to some other things that came up, but next weekend, we'll have this turned into a bar of some workable damascus for a blade.

MosaicWIP045.jpg


Here's the resulting pattern so far:

MosaicWIP047.jpg


I think we'll have a pretty interesting pattern all said and done.
 
WOW Graham that is looking Awesome!! You know how much I love Damascus, well it is a lot & this pattern will turn out sweet!!
 
Looks great. i wasn't able to visualise how the plain section of 1095 was going to look but it was a good choice.
 
man oh man...I feel like a fat kid waiting for the candy shop to open again!
c'mon,open the doors already!:biggrin:
 
man oh man...I feel like a fat kid waiting for the candy shop to open again!
c'mon,open the doors already!:biggrin:

I saw this thread was back at the top of "What's New" and got all excited... sigh... Thanks a LOT... ;)
 
:taz:I'm feeling the pain too. Graham....................Quit college and finish this billet!
I'll tell ya, kids these days, they think their education is more important than making damascus.
 
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