I Am Making A Folding Knife With Gold!

i'm making a damascus folding knife this is the largest most ambitious folder i've ever made to begin this enigma folder build we first have to start with making the damascus steel we're going to combine w layers with straight layers and make a composite feather pattern [Music] [Music] [Music] the first billet i work on is our straight layer billet this billets a little smaller than the other one because i don't need as much steel for this part of the pattern once the layers are forward welded together there's no longer any risk of scale forming inside the billet so we can grind the sheet metal off of the outside [Music] now that we're done forge welding we can really start drawing this out into a long skinny bar i've got some one and a quarter inch stops in there so i can forge this straight layer billet one and a quarter inch wide so okay so [Music] both the billets are drawn out but we need to multiply the layers so it's time to grind all the scale off cut the billets up into smaller pieces re-stack re-weld and then re-forge weld so [Music] [Music] so it's not completely necessary to do at this stage but i wanted to show you how the pattern's looking so far you can see our straight layer billet is looking really nice and then we've got our w layer billet over here with beautifully formed nice and crisp little seas this time since the billet's only three pieces i tig weld up the seams instead of using the sheet metal to seal off the inside of the billet it's quicker and easier to use the tig welder when there's only a couple of seams to seal up instead of messing with welding on the sheet metal and then grinding it off later so so [Music] after the billets have cooled i repeat the process of grinding the scale off cutting them up into pieces and this time combining the billets together into one big billet [Music] so [Music] it's that time once again you guessed it to grind the scale off and cut the build up into smaller pieces and restack them this time i want everything really flat so i grind with the surface grinder [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i measure and grind a small groove on the top of the billet this will help me locate the hot cut we're about to do on the next heat this hot cut is what makes the feather pattern a feather pattern [Music] hot cutting the billet is one of the trickiest parts of making the feather pattern damascus a lot can go wrong even if you have really good forge welds the billet is being put under tremendous stress and it can cause some of the forge welds at the corners to tear open thankfully this billet welded up nice and hot cut even better and i didn't have anything come apart there's something really satisfying about making feather pattern damascus after running the hot cutter through it the two halves of the billet look pretty nasty they don't perfectly match from side to side they have weird angles on them sometimes there's a weird curve and there's scale and weld and stuff all hanging off the edges they look pretty ugly as you keep working the billet and refining it it becomes something beautiful in the end my satisfaction comes from taking that tower that would have looked really pretty before we feathered it and absolutely destroying it and making it look really ugly just these two halves of a weird looking billet putting it back together seeing it through four dwelling it into a feather and then it becomes even more beautiful than it would have been once the billets cooled i cut two slices off with the band saw one slice for the blade and one slice for the back bar of the enigma folder [Music] here's our composite feather pattern damascus made with w and straight layers combined i absolutely love it this looks so cool and makes me want to experiment more with feather pattern variations so [Music] the design of this folder is inspired by persian swords so because of that i need to forge the tip of the blade quite a bit in order to get that curve into the tip [Music] [Music] the next day after the billets have normalized i start shaping the blade and back bar [Music] okay so so before i harden the blade i need to make sure that i've got all the holes in the blade that i'm going to need for the rest of the build it's much easier to drill and ream holes in a soft blade rather than a hard one i start with the hole for the pivot it's important to get this hole just the right size so i not only use drill bits but i also use a reamer to make the hole more accurate next i use a counter bore on both sides of the blade this will leave a recessed area on each side of the blade for our bearing assembly [Music] so i've drilled and countersunk holes for the pivot screws in the front bolsters and then used the liners to mark out where i need to grind the bolsters down [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the bolsters are fit and rough shaped to the folder we can now move our attention to the carbon fiber for the handle scales [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] chief since the carbon fiber has layers of purples and blacks all the way through it as i shape and dome the handle scale it reveals all these different layers and it looks really cool and kind of reminds me of a random pattern damascus [Music] so [Music] it's time to add some embellishments like 24 karat gold inlays on the bolsters the process for gold inlay starts with a nice layout [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so so eh [Music] laughs [Music] now i move on to anodizing the file worked titanium liners i plan on anodizing these parts with a two-stage process for the first stage i'm going to anodize everything a deep blue color once everything's blue i'll sand the surface off and get back to fresh titanium leaving only blue color down in the file work i mean that looks pretty crazy good blue there it looks like they match from side to side pretty well here's the two liners after anodizing them together [Music] next i'll do the second stage and anodize everything purple but since the purple color i'm using is at a lower voltage than the blue color it won't affect the blue in the file work and it'll leave all that blue and just make everything else purple i love how the anodized liners came out and that blue down in the file work really helps the file work stand out just that little bit more it's time to finish the blade i need to do some more hand sanding and then begin the etching and coffee darkening process [Music] [Applause] [Music] got the blade clean go ahead and put it in our ferric chloride solution for about five minutes while the blade's being etched and coffee darkened i begin the gun bluing process on the bolsters and thumb stud gun bluing in the hot caustic salts will give a beautiful black mirror finish to the pieces gun bluing is a form of controlled oxidation in a way you're forcing a certain type of rust to form on the steel in this case though it's really beautiful black rust it adds a protective layer to the steel that can also look really beautiful too [Music] every component of the enigma folder is ready to go it's time to put it all together the screws look like they're a gold color because they've actually been gold plated with 24 karat gold [Music] so [Music] so [Music] after finishing all the components this is my first time putting everything together i absolutely love how this folder came out i love the color scheme on this folder with all the gold and the black the silver in the damascus and the purple one of my favorite things about this folder is the file work i spent a couple days making thousands of tiny cuts to get the file work looking just how i wanted it's a pleasure to open and close this folder the ceramic bearings i added in feel so smooth and creamy i love the way the composite feather pattern damascus came out it looks really cool on the blade and the back bar i think i especially love how you can see the pattern on the back bar down inside the folder this is by far the largest and most ambitious folder project i've ever undertaken [Music] [Music] [Music] i will see you in the next video may the forge be with you bye bye hey we put together a special playlist of videos just for you click here

Channel: KyleRoyerKnives

Views: 1,576,638

Keywords: knife making, how to make a knife, how to heat treat a knife, how to make a bowie knife, how to make a bowie, knives, kyle royer, kyle royer knives, making a knife, sharp, how to make knives, bladesmith, master smith, blades, damascus, knifemaker, diy knife, anvil, forging, custom, knife, great content, steel, bowie build, bowie knife, 10 inche bowie knife, blade, knifemaking, knife maker

Id: 0GcvKiIkjWk

Length: 28min 36sec (1716 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 26 2022