About Me

Hi, I'm Stephen Stumbo, I'm 18 yrs old, and a self taught knifesmith/blacksmith. All through my childhood I've had affinity for blades, probably starting with my first pocket knife. At 12 I tried to grind a knife out of a sawzall blade, and was so proud of how it turned out. At 14 I convinced my dad to help me make a forge so I could try blacksmithing. After building the forge I had a rough time getting started, but after meeting a local blacksmith and getting some tips, I went at it. About a year into blacksmithing (2009) I decided to try my hand at making knives. I started out terribly, but I've slowly been progressing to where you see now. Take a look around, and let me know what you think, you can also find me on facebook to keep up with the goings on around the ole smithy.














Sunday, March 6, 2011

First Damascus!

Well, yesterday I welded up my first damascus. The steel is 13 alternating layers of bandsaw blade and pallet packing straps. The following photos are after welding it, grinding notches into it, and forging flat, then I polished it a little, and etched it to see the pattern.

Here it is etching in ferric chloride mixed 1-3 with water
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Remember, this was a light etch, that's why the pattern here very obvious.
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and some closeups.
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on edge
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Check back tomorrow for photos of the knife I'm making out of it.

Oldanvilyoungsmith
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