Ok, once all your layers are glued together place it between two sheets of paper and then put a whole bunch of books on it to press it down and let it dry. This may take a couple of days to completely dry.
Let's Clean it up and bring out the pattern
Once the glue has dried you need to clean off the edges all the way around it. More glue squeezed out and hardened so it will take a bit of effort to clean this up. Use an x-acto knife and wear safety gloves! Or you can use sand paper to sand off all the dried glue.
Now we can start to bring out the pattern in the paper. This involves removing paper at an angle.
There are a lot of different ways to do this. And a dremel tool is the fastest. You can get it shaped and looking good real fast with a dremel. But you have to be careful. It is easy to make mistakes this way.
Sanding is one of the best ways to do this. You can use a piece of sand paper and you can wrap it around a pencil to in order to get in the tight spots.
One of the best things you can do is wrap sand paper around a piece of wood and use that as a sanding block.
The important thing is that you are working the paper at an angle like this. It is what causes the layering effect and the ripples that give us our damascus pattern.
And there are a wide variety of tools you can use including a belt sander or even a rasp. Different tools create different effects and affect the pattern differently so do a little and observe how the paper responds.
 
The best thing you can do is use a small piece of sand paper and do some light sanding, carefully observing how the paper responds to it and how the pattern comes out.
Have fun with this. Do the blade as a minimum. And do the handle if you want it patterned. Otherwise let me show you how to finish this knife off.
Ok, once you are done with all the sanding work wipe it clean with a dry rag or paper towel and you can go ahead and paint the handle if you would like to. Have fun with this.
Now let's seal it with a layer of white glue. This will preserve it. Keep it strong and keep the colors nice and bright.
As a final, optional step you can spray seal it with a high shine acrylic. This will give it a nice sheen. But this is optional.
That's It! Your Damascus steel knife is done! If you make this project be sure to send me an email.
Here are some other projects you might be interested in:
Make Ruby's Knife from Supernatural
Fun quick and easy foamboard project and you will be ready to slay demons. I give you the template. Make Ruby's Knife from Supernatural
Knifemaking Tutorial
How to make a real knife using the stock removal method. This is part of my blacksmithing series of tutorials.
How to Make Paper!
I been putting this project off for a long time because I thought it would be challenging. Wow I was wrong. Paper making is so easy to do! And it comes out great. I love this and you are going to love it too! The possibilities are endless for scrolls, origami, fine writing and so much more. How to Make Paper
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