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Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon
Making a tasting spoon in stainless damascus for a chef. This is the first time I've made something like it. Next one is a damascus spork!
Click here if you're interested in ordering a Stainless Damascus Spork or a Stainless Damascus Spoon.

Order Details:
-Tasting spoon, 9 1/4 - 9 1/2" long.
-High contrasting stainless damascus.
-End of the handle to come to a narrow flat point

Spoon making process
First six pictures are from another Tutorial I've made: Forging Stainless 304 and Stainless 420 MV
Since it's exactly the same process, I didn't see the point in taking new pics of this step. Only difference is that for this spoon, the cannister is 8" long -twice as the one pictured. Cannister is 40x40mm and the thickness is 2mm.

After making the canister, I put some kitchen paper soaked in WD40 inside. This will burn and consume the O2 inside the can, creating the reduced atmosphere needed for the welding of stainless steels. (Pictures 1 and 2)

Can filled with alternated sheets of 304 (0.3mm) and 420 MV -420 with added Molibdenum Vanadium- (0.7mm) (Picture 3)

Then I gotta weld it closed so no extra O2 gets inside. (Pictures 4, 5 and 6)

I place it in the oven at 1350C and I leave it there for about 20-25 minutes, rotating it every 5"

From now on, pictures are of the actual spoon making process.

Oven at welding temperature, ready to receive the canned steels. (Picture 7)

Welding temperature. (Picture 8)
Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon
Picture 1   Picture 2   Picture 3   Picture 4   Picture 5   Picture 6   Picture 7   Picture 8
After I flaten it with the press, I get rid of the cannister by grinding it off. (Picture 9)

Oven at forging temperature. (Picture 10)

Stainless forging temperature range. 900C - 1150C (Pictures 11 and 12)

Stretched sheet of damascus. (Picture 13)

Thicker, about 10mm, in the area where I'll make the spoon head. (Picture 14)

Drilling the damascus sheet to get the desired pattern (4mm drill bit, 2mm deep) (Picture 15)

Almost done. (Picture 16)
Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon
Picture 9   Picture 10   Picture 11   Picture 12   Picture 13   Picture 14   Picture 15   Picture 16
I keep heating to forge tempertature and flattening the piece until I reach a 4mm thickness. (Pictures 17 and 18)

I glue a template for the spoon shape on the damascus piece. (Picture 19)

And then cut it. (Picture 20)

To get the proper spoon shape, after I heat the soon-to-be-spoon, I use a modified inner bearing ring (previosly heated and pressed to an oval shape) and a hammer head with a round end. (Pictures 21 and 22)

Now this starts to look like a real spoon. (Picture 23)

Then I finish the forging to shape manually, with a smaller hammer. (Pictures 24 and 25)
Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon
Picture 17   Picture 18   Picture 19   Picture 20   Picture 21   Picture 22   Picture 23   Picture 24

After the spoon is shaped, I grind the inner part of the head with a spherical grinding stone, mounted on a bench drill. (Picture 26)

For the outter part I use regular sanding belts, mounted on a rubber adaptor on my bench grinder. (Picture 27)

And then polish the inner part with sand paper, manually. (Pictures 28 and 29)

After I get a mirror polish, I etch it in acid just like I do with all my damascus pieces. Process is shown in this other Tutorial: Etching a Maker's Mark

Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   Knifemaking - Making a Fully Stainless Damascus Spoon   AES Custom Knives   AES Custom Knives   AES Custom Knives
Picture 25   Picture 26   Picture 27   Picture 28                

There are some concepts of forging and welding stainless steels that I'd like to talk about for a second.
Stainless steels melt at temperatures a tad lower than regular carbon steels, however, the forging temperature is substantially higher.

Stainless steels can be hot forged just like carbon steels, but since they have intrinsic characteristics and properties, in addition of the mentioned higher temperature, it's imperative that you take some particular and important meassures to achive a successful forging.

Stainless steels' thermal conductivity is lower than carbon steels'. At higher temperatures, stainless steels are harder and less plastic than carbon steels. They require about 40% more hits to achieve the same deformation.

This lack of plasticity causes the need for more heating cycles, and, as they have a "slow" thermal conductivity, these cycles should be done very slowly, to achieve a uniform temperature in the entire piece to forge.

It's better not to heat it to the direct flame, as this causes the steel to get oxidized. For this reason, as I still haven't finished my induction oven, is that I leave it thicker than needed and then I get rid of a good 1mm on each side, by grinding it off, after the piece cooled off.

It's also very important to properly measure the temperature in the oven while you're heating for forging, as if it goes lower than 900C, this can cause fissures on the steel.

Because of all of this precautions that I have to take into consideration when forging stainless steels, as well as the extra cost of the materials involved, is that I consider the cost of making this type of stainless damascus to be about as twice as making regular carbon damascus.

Finished Spoon
The dark spots or lines that look out of place are not really on the actual spoon, they're just optical effects due to the curved surfaces, that are really hard to photograph.
Stainless Damascus Tasting Spoon   Stainless Damascus Tasting Spoon   Stainless Damascus Tasting Spoon   Stainless Damascus Tasting Spoon   Stainless Damascus Tasting Spoon   Stainless Damascus Tasting Spoon   Stainless Damascus Tasting Spoon   Stainless Damascus Tasting Spoon
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