| My name is Ron Maurin , I live in Salem Utah and have a small blacksmith shop here at my home, I build Damascus Steel knives and recently have been using this steel for Rings or Wedding bands, I get many questions about making these rings so let me try to explain how I build these rings and the materials used, I am not sure about your knowledge of Damascus Steel, so here's a rundown on my procedure. I like to start my Damascus Billet with two different carbon base tool steels usually L6, and 01, I stay away from mild steels becuase they have a tendancy to flatten faster leaving a narrow line in my pattern, if I use a chrome based steel I try to match it with chrome in the oppsite steel or a similar alloy such as molybdenum or tungstan, it seems like some very hard steels to have on ones finger but I have had my best results this way, after I get my billet forge welded with the right amount of layers, and the layer count must be less if I'm going to twist it, and the tighter the twist the finer the layers will appear on the finished pattern, I usally try to twist it 180 degrees and work it and then back 360 degrees, on about a four inch billet 3/4 inch diameter, then I saw off a 3/4 inch piece turn it on it's end and pound it down to about 3/8 inch thichness, then comes the anealing process, I heat up the big piece put it in the heated lime, then with some heated tongs I pickup the heated ring sized piece and set it in the boiling lime and let it sit over night, if done right the ring will be drillable and soft enough to work, when working with tool steel that small it don't take much to harden it, cold tongs or a little air and you will burn up drill bits, You cannot use a hot cut or punch they to mash the layers together and make the pattern to fine, OK we have got it ready to drill and around 65 layers, I try to forge it round enough to put in my lathe chuck and drill it there, then turn it to size using a cutting tool, I like to finish the inside about .15mm smaller than accuall size to leave me some room for the acid to work and the finish sanding and polishing, then I put it on an arbor with tapered nuts on both sides to hold it, and turn the ring to size and shape, polish it up to a high shine then put it an etching solution for about 12 hours. After the etching I rinse it off good put it in an acid neutralizer then put it back in the lathe and polish off the high points of the pattern, leaving enough deep lines to hold a Teflon finsh, I bake on the Teflon, then go back to the lathe and polish off the Teflon on the high points leaving bare metal with a good black finish in between, the I electroplate the bare metal with Gold. |
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