My son's first damascus billet!

[zaph1]

Recent upgrades to the burner on the Atlas mini forge prompted a small hammering session over at Dave Larsen's. Graham made this billet of cable damascus. The forge we used was the first forge I made. Straight in the side, no angle, so many improvements since this forge. I can't wait to try the burner for a session with a new forge. We do have a 12 ton press that we're just dying to try this with.

Graham has his own 100lb. post anvil and a forge with his name on the front plate, but he thought it would be too loud and annoy the neighbors so he hasn't done more. He stated while making this billet that it wasn't too loud and he was going to start hammering more at home.

Any pearls of wisdom for a young maker just starting damascus?

PS: Yes, we know the forge and anvil shouldn't be on the ground.


Here's the billet after a bit of sandblasting:

Here's some action pics:

 

[rhinoknives]

Yes!
Tell Graham that it is better to ask for a little forgiveness that to ask permission and be denied.
FORGE AWAY! LOL.
Very cool bar of twist. I would get him a nice tree trunk for the anvil and a metal table for the forge.
Working at that angle would be hard on even his young back, or have him watch some videos of how the smiths in India squat down when they hammer with the anvil on the ground.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

 

[Doug Lester]

I found that my block anvil is actually quieter than my English pattern anvils. Absolutely no ring to it whatsoever. My back ached to think of how he must have been standing plus it would make it more difficult to bring the hammer face down flat on the work.

Doug

 

[zaph1]

This was over at Dave's house. Graham's anvil is mounted on a 6' long 6x6 cemented into the ground with a piece of horse stall mat between the anvil and post to reduce the noise. However, he's been paranoid about annoying the neighbors. I only wish the neighbors dog was the same.