I started looking for Damascus Billet cheap enough to make the Project feasable without breaking the bank. A complete set of silverware for 12, with 5 pieces per person and 4 serving pieces will require some 55 pieces of Damascus steel. There is a place right here in Alabama that makes Damascus Steel, but it is expensive, as anything American made. I will have to settle for Damascus forged in Pakistan or India.
The cheapest billet I found was $19.99 at Smoky Mountain Knife Works, imported from China, but is unfortunately out of stock. It comes in several patterns, and is listed as 12"x2"x1/4", which is big, and could possibly allow me to get two pieces out of each billet, cutting the costs considerably.
I wanted of course to get started right away, and found some billet on Amazon for $29 which I ordered and got in 2 days. It turned out to be particularly easy to work with, and has a beautiful raindrop pattern:
I cut and ground the basic blank for a knife pretty quickly, as shown in the previous post:
There were no more of those available, so I ordered two more expensive billets from different places to try to cut a spoon and a fork. They turned out to be substantially harder than the first one, so I tried to figure out how to anneal them, which as it turns out can be difficult for Damascus. I considered asking a friend to use his pottery kiln, and also found a local heat treating place.
I kept looking for other sources, and found a set of 3 on Etsy of all places, shipping from England. Amazingly, it was here this morning, shipped with DHL. These are unfortunately only 9"x1.75" instead of the 10"x2" listed, too small for the fork and spoon, but fortunately big enough for salad forks. I made a smaller cardboard fork and a dessert spoon to test their handling, as it is important to me that all the pieces fit the hand comfortably and ergonomically. Here is the complete set. As you can see, I decided on the holes:
The cheapest billet I found was $19.99 at Smoky Mountain Knife Works, imported from China, but is unfortunately out of stock. It comes in several patterns, and is listed as 12"x2"x1/4", which is big, and could possibly allow me to get two pieces out of each billet, cutting the costs considerably.
I wanted of course to get started right away, and found some billet on Amazon for $29 which I ordered and got in 2 days. It turned out to be particularly easy to work with, and has a beautiful raindrop pattern:
I kept looking for other sources, and found a set of 3 on Etsy of all places, shipping from England. Amazingly, it was here this morning, shipped with DHL. These are unfortunately only 9"x1.75" instead of the 10"x2" listed, too small for the fork and spoon, but fortunately big enough for salad forks. I made a smaller cardboard fork and a dessert spoon to test their handling, as it is important to me that all the pieces fit the hand comfortably and ergonomically. Here is the complete set. As you can see, I decided on the holes:
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