Subject: Re: Stainless Damascus & Forge Welding Stainless

From: [email-masked] (jeramo)
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 1996 07:27:39 -0700

>Even they still haven't delivered my backorder, I wanted to correct what 
>seems to be a reflection of my two fingered typing style. If you can get 

>On Fri, 19 Apr 1996, Peter Beky wrote:
>
>> >1) can stainless be forge welded to itself & other steel alloys? Which ones
>> €Any steel can be welded to another, as an alloy is Plain Carbon Steel

>> Peter.
Thanks to both of you for the information.  Much appreciatred.

R. Coon

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 09:20:23 -0400

To All,
On the subject of stainless damascus......
Stainless is stainless because of the protection it recieves from the very
thin layer of chromium oxide on the surface.  The thickness of this layer
varies with time at temperature. Forge welding in the traditional sense
relies on the fact that the oxide layer on the surface of the iron is liquid
and that upon bringing the two pieces together the iron surfaces beneath the
liquid oxide meet and stick. This all happens with very little force. Most
metals can be joined by the "roll cladding process" in which two or more
metal strips are rolled together at room temperature after cleaning. The
reduction in thickness in the single pass is in the neighborhood of 60%,
i.e., from .100" total to .04" total. This is obviously accomplished with a
BIG rolling mill. A 7" wide strip can take around a million pounds of force.
In the days of carbureted engines think of choke coils or the coil in your
wall thermostat as examples. The applications are endless. 
Back to stainless damascus....
The first trick is to keep the oxide off of the material. This usually means
a pack made fron cleaned material with welded edges and no flux, the
stainless being on the inside. Much heavier and more consistent blows are
needed so think power hammer. There are examples out there. Daryl Meier has
made it on his rolling mill by using the hot cladding method.

Regards,

Bill Hochella