Niko, my go to guy for wootz, has published an article on wootz with John verhoeven.
Smelting wootz
- Thread starter Bruno
- Start date
I've been experimenting with forging temperatures and sadly, I have to concede that the hard way of forging wootz is also the best way. I took a bar that I'd forged down to 1.5 x 0.5 with my press, and then drew it to razor blanks using a hand hammer and low heat. It was quite a bit of work. I tried it because I'd read a comment a while ago that if you forge steel with carbides in it at lower temperature, the steel crystals will create faults where they touch the carbides, because that is where they will be likely to move like the fault line between 2 tectonic plates. The resulting crystalline faults will act as precipitation points where new cementite grows first.
The end result is that forging like this 'grows' the cementite carbides because you keep creating new cementite next to the existing cementite. The good news is that I've finally accepted this. The bad news is that it's hard to forge like this.
With the 2 razors I forged like this, this is what I see with the naked eye while grinding, no etch.
The end result is that forging like this 'grows' the cementite carbides because you keep creating new cementite next to the existing cementite. The good news is that I've finally accepted this. The bad news is that it's hard to forge like this.
With the 2 razors I forged like this, this is what I see with the naked eye while grinding, no etch.
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I'll continue my wootz ramblings in this thread.
Piece 1 was just cut off after forging. 2 was cut and normalized a couple of times. 3 was slow annealed in a kiln.
1 etched blotchy and faint. 2 etched lightly but clear. 3 didn't etch at all. As expected drilling thd holes for 1 was difficult and probably ruined my drill bit. 2 was easier and 3 was like butter.
This was piece 2
Piece 1 was just cut off after forging. 2 was cut and normalized a couple of times. 3 was slow annealed in a kiln.
1 etched blotchy and faint. 2 etched lightly but clear. 3 didn't etch at all. As expected drilling thd holes for 1 was difficult and probably ruined my drill bit. 2 was easier and 3 was like butter.
This was piece 2
When grinding flat at 80 grit i could see the pattern reflect in the light on all 3.
I also did an experiment with a razor I'm working on and of which i doubted the pattern. This was the result.
Really happy with how strongly the pattern shows up during rough grinding. Other considerations aside i need to build a smaller kiln so i can do experiments involving much high
I also did an experiment with a razor I'm working on and of which i doubted the pattern. This was the result.
Really happy with how strongly the pattern shows up during rough grinding. Other considerations aside i need to build a smaller kiln so i can do experiments involving much high
In a couple of months I'm doing a road trip in Finland with my wife and we'll be visiting Niko who melts the ingots for me (I just ordered 2 more 
). Normally we'll visit his forge, talk about steel, and do some sight seeing and having diner with him and his wife. Looking very much forward to it!
). Normally we'll visit his forge, talk about steel, and do some sight seeing and having diner with him and his wife. Looking very much forward to it!
This is that razor after HT. My experiment with the new pre- heat treatment seems to have been a success.
In the last part of the video when I roll the blade backwards you can really see the pattern very well, and this is just during grinding after heat treatment.
My only issue now is that I really need to get started on making a small electric kiln to do the thermal cycling for me at a much lower cost.
In the last part of the video when I roll the blade backwards you can really see the pattern very well, and this is just during grinding after heat treatment.
My only issue now is that I really need to get started on making a small electric kiln to do the thermal cycling for me at a much lower cost.