Making a Twist Damascus Viking Seax

Jesse Hu・2 minutes read

Jesse crafts a viking sax using Damascus, focusing on unique patterns and twist designs, while ensuring proper forge welding and blade sharpening techniques. The speaker shares their meticulous process of shaping the blade, explaining their material choices, handle construction, and finishing touches to create a functional weapon despite its unconventional appearance.

Insights

  • Jesse innovatively uses Damascus steel to create a viking sax with a unique twist, emphasizing the importance of meticulous forge welding and intricate pattern manipulation for a striking final product.
  • The speaker showcases a meticulous approach to blade-making, focusing on details like plunge lines, handle construction, and blade sharpening techniques, underscoring the significance of precision and craftsmanship in creating a functional and aesthetically pleasing weapon.

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Recent questions

  • How does Jesse create a unique pattern on his viking sax?

    By changing the layout of billet layers.

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Summary

00:00

"Jesse crafts viking sax with Damascus twist"

  • Jesse is building a viking sax with an experimental twist using Damascus.
  • He cleans surfaces with an 80 grit belt and stacks his billet together.
  • Jesse changes the layout of his billet layers for a bolder pattern.
  • He uses a new microphone for recording and grinds the edges of the billet flat.
  • Jesse uses Parks 50 for forge welding due to its availability and effectiveness.
  • Working in extreme heat, Jesse emphasizes the importance of leaving the billet at forge welding temperature.
  • Jesse plans to draw out the billet into a 1x1 bar, cut it into two pieces, and twist them in opposing directions.
  • He forges the twisted billets back into squares, ensuring to break the corners to prevent cold shuts.
  • Jesse struggles with twisting the bars, monitoring his heart rate during the process.
  • After finalizing the billets, Jesse cuts off the untwisted parts, grinds off oxides, and welds them together using flux before drawing out the billet.

16:47

Blade crafting process with unique handle materials.

  • The speaker is reluctant to discard old grinding belts, hoarding around 200 in their garage.
  • They aim to create a slight ridge on the spine of a blade resembling those on Katana and wakizakis.
  • Despite considering using a jig for grinding, they opt to freehand the process.
  • Using an 80 grit belt, they carefully create a sharp 90-degree plunge line on the blade.
  • The speaker explains their choice of an 80 grit belt over a 36 grit one due to the belt's radius.
  • They proceed to bring the entire blade to a 400 grit machine finish using higher grit belts.
  • The handle materials chosen are silicon bronze, African Blackwood, and stainless steel.
  • The speaker discusses the importance of handle length in relation to weapon control.
  • They detail the process of drilling holes in the handle block and aligning them carefully.
  • The speaker completes the blade by hand-sanding, etching their Maker's Mark, and finalizing the handle pieces before the glue-up and welding of the pommel.

35:37

"Sharp Blade Tested After Unprofessional Sharpening"

  • Blade sharpened with a 400 grit trizact belt
  • Sharpened further on a buffalo hide strap with green buffing compound
  • Edge sharp enough for various tests, despite looking unprofessional
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