What's going on in your shop?

1018 is high in Mn. It should turn black.

Did you by chance clean up the edge before etch such that you can see the layers?
Weld looks quite successful. Congrats! Now you open another whole can of worms on your knife making adventure. LOL
 
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1018 is high in Mn. It should turn black.

Did you by chance clean up the edge before etch such that you can see the layers?
Weld looks quite successful. Congrats! Now you open another whole can of worms on your knife making adventure. LOL
It may not be 1018. It's just flat bar stock from HD or or True Value that I had in my scrap bucket from TIG welding practice. I guess I just assumed that kind of generic steel was 1018. I beveled it so I could see the layers and see if my weld was good. Just a quick & dirty test and grind while I waited for the septic guy to finish pumping! Looks to me like it was.

Crazy how I was struggling to darken 15n20 before, then mixed Ferric 4:1 and it darkens when I don't expect it to. I have so much to learn... :)
 
It may not be 1018. It's just flat bar stock from HD or or True Value that I had in my scrap bucket from TIG welding practice. I guess I just assumed that kind of generic steel was 1018. I beveled it so I could see the layers and see if my weld was good. Just a quick & dirty test and grind while I waited for the septic guy to finish pumping! Looks to me like it was.

Crazy how I was struggling to darken 15n20 before, then mixed Ferric 4:1 and it darkens when I don't expect it to. I have so much to learn... :)
Did you by chance try a piece of neat 15N20 in that mix after the etch shown above?
 
Did you by chance try a piece of neat 15N20 in that mix after the etch shown above?
No, but the etch coincides with how the 15n20 took the Ferric Chloride after I mixed it 4:1 back when I was trying to figure that out. I have some 5160 and some 1075 I can try with it to see how that etches out. What are you thinking?
 
I just have never seen 15n20 etch that dark. Wondering if the hammering and the grinding took a whole layer off? That was the intent of the first question about the edge view.
That, and what the hell is the second steel if 15N20 etches that dark?

Regardless my confusion with the colors, you made your first diffusion welded steel and that's to be congratulated. It looks like a good weld throughout along that line of interface.

You'll probably want a MIG to build your press. :p
 
Had a request for a sgian dubh for a wedding present this past Sunday, oh and I need it by Thursday. .....let's see a knife I've never made, that has a legal size restriction on the blade if you ever take it to the Highlands or the UK, in 4 days..... why not let's do it.
 

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Had a request for a sgian dubh for a wedding present this past Sunday, oh and I need it by Thursday. .....let's see a knife I've never made, that has a legal size restriction on the blade if you ever take it to the Highlands or the UK, in 4 days..... why not let's do it.
These are one of my favorites to make. You did a good job on this one. Looks like you even used big oak?
 
These are one of my favorites to make. You did a good job on this one. Looks like you even used big oak?
Thanks, It was a fun build, had to fabricate the butt cap, my first thought was to make it a stone setting but I didn't have anything shaped or polished, didn't have any bog oak so the handle is a cut off from an axe handle that I torched then steel wooled before adding 4 coats of satin wiping finish and finally a couple coats of minwax rubbed in for a nice soft feeling finish.
 
Thanks, It was a fun build, had to fabricate the butt cap, my first thought was to make it a stone setting but I didn't have anything shaped or polished, didn't have any bog oak so the handle is a cut off from an axe handle that I torched then steel wooled before adding 4 coats of satin wiping finish and finally a couple coats of minwax rubbed in for a nice soft feeling finish.
I’ll have to remember that!
Here is one of my first ones.
A45B5B9A-805B-4F43-B517-F6D6F31C5E0D.jpeg
 
I never thought about how similar those two blade types are.

Both beautiful. I'm sure the groom was extremely pleased. OP, nice finish.
 
Got this one on my bench right now! 3rd attempt at a 3 blade, hopefully this one is the charm!
61c96b1f075aada5d0c2a5912448db3c.jpg


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