2021 Vegas Forge Damascus Class

4308 East Alexander Road,Las Vegas NV 89115

02 September, 2021

Description

Create your own damascus steel billet! A hands-on class teaching beginners basic tequnique and tool use to forge damascus steel billets. Spend a day at Vegas Forge and leave knowing how to create and forge your own handcrafted damascus steel billet. The class provides a one of a kind, hands on experience teaching step-by-step layering and forging tequniques specifically for damascus steel. You will understand and experience enough in this one day, 5 hour class to be able to forge your own Damascus. Cost includes all materials and lunch. Limited to 8 participants. Must be 18 or older. WHAT TO EXPECT 1. Safety Gear: Use of face shield, aluminized gloves, ear protection provided. Wear long sleeves, jeans and boots for protection. 2. Lunch and beverages included. 3. Billet material included: 100 pre-cut/pre-washed layers of 1075 and 100 pre-cut/pre-washed layers of Nickel included; 4. Stacking layers, Building and Welding the Forging Can: Learn how to stack the carbon in layers for your pattern. Once the layers are stacked, you will build a metal can around the layers of carbon blade steel. (The can protects and secures the layers while the box heats up to 2200 degrees in the forge.) To finish the can, it will need to be welded. We can either show you how to weld or we can have our welders do this for you, it’s your choice. 5. Forge Use: Once the can is welded up, it is ready to be heated in the forge. You will take your material and place it in the forge. This takes an hour to heat up, so we will break for lunch during this time.. Over lunch we chat about damascus and answer any questions that you might have. When we’re done with lunch, the can and 200 layers inside the can will have reached 2200 degrees and its time to have some fun!! 6. 3B Nazel Hammer Demonstration and Use: After a quick demonstration on how to operate the 3B Nazel Pneumatic hammer we will have you grab your material out of the forge with some blacksmithing tongs. You will then fuse the 200 layers of steel by hammering down on the damascus. The nazel hammer hits with 300lbs per square inch and everyone really enjoys operating one of these beasts! Once the layers are fused you will then put it back in the forge to reheat to 2200 for around 10-15 minutes. Once you have hammered your material to the appropriate size, we will teach you how to use the rolling mill. 7. Hot rolling Technique & Forging Process: The rolling mill will stretch the chunk of damascus you just hammered to 20-22" long. Its takes about 10 rounds with the rolling mill to get the damascus to the desired length and thickness. It’s a slower process using a rolling mill because you must reheat the steel after each roll. Typically, our participants have lots of questions once they start forging. During the reheats we explain in depth what is going on with the steel, which provides a solid understanding of the forging process. 8. Choice of Carbon Damascus Billet Pattern: Once you have drawn the damascus to the desired length it’s time for you to choose which pattern you want to finish with. Choice of one of three damascus patterns. 9. Use of 14’ Tall Hydraulic Press: Once you decide your pattern, we set up the dyes on our 300-ton hydraulic press. You will take your billet out of the forge and stick it in the press, push the controller and press your pattern into the billet. 10. Hand Hammering and Anvil Technique: After the billet has been pressed, you will use a 2lb hand hammer and 1,000lb anvil to straighten and flatten the billet. There are a lot of tricks to this. When you’re done, you will understand how metal moves when hammering with a small hand hammer, a massive nazel hammer and 14’ tall press. 11. Annealing: The billet at this stage is very hard and needs to be softened (annealed) so that it can be surface ground and cut into a knife or whatever else you want to use it for. To anneal it, you will place the billet in our kiln (oven) overnight for 12 hours. 12. Final Product Finishing: Vegas Forge completes the final steps on your billet after the overnight annealing process. The Blanchard surface grinder will then be used to surface grind all the scale leaving the billet perfectly flat, clean, and even. This is ideal for making knives since you want the blade to be straight and flat. 13. Heat Treating: We will explain in detail about heat treating steel in order that you understand how steel can be softened or hardened to whatever rockwell hardness you desire for different projects. At this point your work is all done, and the class is concluded. 14. Receiving Your Billet: Once the billet is surface ground, Vegas Forge ships it directly to you via USPS. You will receive your damascus billet in the mail the following week and can proceed with building your knife or project. 15. Heat Treating, Acid Etching, Buffing and Sanding: Detailed printed finishing instructions are included with your billet when shipped. It covers how to heat treat the steel after the blade is made, how to bring the pattern out by acid etching the Damascus, in addition to other important finishing tips including buffing and sanding. We're always available if you have any questions. At this point you should be good to go! Good luck. Thank you for joining us. Photos and Video will be taken during the class and emailed to you. You are welcome to take your own pictures as well. 2021 VEGAS FORGE HAMMER-IN Thank you for your interest in our class. This class is offered one time annually. Due to to high response from interested participants, the class is limited to eight (8) persons. Participants shall be determined by a "first paid and registered" basis as outlined in Terms/Conditions. TERMS AND CONDITIONS1) Payment in advance and a completed Registration Form is required to secure your participation in the class. 2) Participants must be 18 or older. 3) Once a class is filled we cannot make changes. In the event the class is filled and payment was made, you will be refunded the amount paid.4) The class is limited to 8 paid participants.5) In order to participate, a VF Release and Waiver shall be signed upon arrival prior to the commencement of class. Please arrive a minimum of 15 minutes prior to class start time. Please email [email protected] with additional questions. Thank you. 2021 VEGAS FORGE HAMMER-IN Thank you for your interest in our class. This class is offered one time annually. Due to to high response from interested participants, the class is limited to eight (8) persons. Participants shall be determined by a "first paid and registered" basis as outlined in Terms/Conditions. The cost of the VF Hammer-In Class includes one carbon damascus billet you create during the class ($425 value), lunch & beverages, and the use of necessary safety gear during the class. Please wear long sleeves, jeans and boots for added protection. TERMS AND CONDITIONS1) Payment in advance and a completed Registration Form is required to secure your participation in the class. 2) Participants must be 18 or older. 3) Once a class is filled we cannot make changes. In the event the class is filled and payment was made, you will be refunded the amount paid.4) The class is limited to 8 paid participants.5) In order to participate, a VF Release and Waiver shall be signed upon arrival prior to the commencement of class. Please arrive a minimum of 15 minutes prior to class start time. Please email [email protected] with additional questions. Thank you.