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Making a faceplate, failing badly

jock1092

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Does anyone around here have experience with working Damascus pattern steel?

Ended up with a nice piece for a mod im working on but messed it up on the first run.

I still have half the original billet it came from, enough for the plate with extra bit dont trust myself working on it

Anyone know what I could do for nice clean cuts on something this hard, or where I could look for someone to do it for me?
 
what grade of Damascus steel is it

you will need a Miller to even touch it but carbon tips hate hard steel you could anneal it to help
 
what grade of Damascus steel is it

you will need a Miller to even touch it but carbon tips hate hard steel you could anneal it to help
It was cheap stuff, in the hope it was going to be workable
Might try to anneal it in the future but for now I've decided to wait for my new drill press and use a copper plate and patina it instead
 
What sort of problems are you having? What tools do you have? Believe it or not I've had success working with a hacksaw and some files. Rather slow work, but it works. This was 1095/15N20 damascus which had been annealed.
 
It was cheap stuff, in the hope it was going to be workable
Might try to anneal it in the future but for now I've decided to wait for my new drill press and use a copper plate and patina it instead
The problem with cheap damascus is you have no idea what's in it. I would go for an anneal, it doesn't have to be super hard for what you want anyway, and if you do want it up in the tool steel ranges, you can always re-quench after you've drilled and cut. Be aware that the more you mess about with it, the less of the pattern you'll see unless you acid etch it.
I never thought I'd see the day that vaping crossed over with smithing!
 
The problem with cheap damascus is you have no idea what's in it. I would go for an anneal, it doesn't have to be super hard for what you want anyway, and if you do want it up in the tool steel ranges, you can always re-quench after you've drilled and cut. Be aware that the more you mess about with it, the less of the pattern you'll see unless you acid etch it.
I never thought I'd see the day that vaping crossed over with smithing!
Yeah I went for fancy, originally planned to make a nice flush plate for the front of a box but no chance with this unless I take out the grinder and I don't like that thing.
But I did get a nice bit of luck recently and have a new drill press that made nice work on the steel, just need some new 1.5mm bits because they didn't like the pressure from the first tries
Hoping to get it out this weekend and do the work, but still not sure how I'm pulling off the USB and screen holes
 
What sort of problems are you having? What tools do you have? Believe it or not I've had success working with a hacksaw and some files. Rather slow work, but it works. This was 1095/15N20 damascus which had been annealed.
That's the same grade I have, but not annealed yet
I point had files and a corded/cordless drill at the time now I have a much stronger drill press that can get the fine work done
I think I'll take the filling approach for a lot of the work though I really hate doing it, I'd rather a nice end result and slower work usually ends nicer in my experience
 
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