Damascus blade from Seki City, Japan & Dinosaur Bone scales

[Redrummd]

Here is a custom knife I finished Saturday for one of my customers. It is one of the most unusual pieces of dinosaur gem bone I have ever seen. The bone is agatized dinosaur bone from a dinosaur that lived in the Jurassic period, 140 to 220 million years ago.

[justacowboy]

Real nice looking bone.

[jonet143]

purty! almost glows.

[philco]

That material is very interesting.
I bet the new owner will love it.
Very beautiful!!!
Fantastic work as always, Mike.

Phil

[Redrummd]

I actually did 7 dinosaur gem bone knives as part of a barter trade with a dinosaur bone dealer. I got some incredible bone and some incredible agatized coral from Indonesia in the first trade with this person. The knives are going to a a show in Tuscon so I hope they all sell so I can do some more trading.... I will be shipping them on Monday by priority mail.

"Thanks for doing a super job, it looks like I'll have the knives for the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show which run from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15th.

That will be great."

Here is a picture of a Case XX large Trapper in red and yellow dinosaur gem bone and another INCREDIBLE Damascus one that will also both be going to Tuscon.

I really do appreciate all of the kind comments you have given me about my works since I joined this group. I still find a lot of faults in my works but I continue to improve with each passing month. I just finished my first year doing this so I suspect in another couple of years I might be able to do a knife I am completely happy with.

Again, thank you all........

Mike

[gmusic]

Hey Mike,

Very nice work! Interesting stuff....................

Does bone go through stages on it's way to becoming stone. If so, do you know what they are? Why does it turn to stone and simply not rot?

[Redrummd]

Straight from www.enchantedlearning.com which seems to have the shortest version that is understandable!

HOW FOSSILS FORM

Fossils of hard mineral parts (like bones and teeth) were formed as follows:
Some animals were quickly buried after their death (by sinking in mud, being buried in a sand storm, etc.).
Over time, more and more sediment covered the remains.
The parts of the animals that didn't rot (usually the harder parts likes bones and teeth) were encased in the newly-formed sediment.
In the right circumstances (no scavengers, quick burial, not much weathering), parts of the animal turned into fossils over time.
After a long time, the chemicals in the buried animals' bodies underwent a series of changes. As the bone slowly decayed, water infused with minerals seeped into the bone and replaced the chemicals in the bone with rock-like minerals. The process of fossilization involves the dissolving and replacement of the original minerals in the object with other minerals (and/or permineralization, the filling up of spaces in fossils with minerals, and/or recrystallization in which a mineral crystal changes its form).
This process results in a heavy, rock-like copy of the original object - a fossil. The fossil has the same shape as the original object, but is chemically more like a rock! Some of the original hydroxy-apatite (a major bone consitiuent) remains, although it is saturated with silica (rock).
There are six ways that organisms can turn into fossils, including:
unaltered preservation (like insects or plant parts trapped in amber, a hardened form of tree sap)
permineralization=petrification (in which rock-like minerals seep in slowly and replace the original organic tissues with silica, calcite or pyrite, forming a rock-like fossil - can preserve hard and soft parts - most bone and wood fossils are permineralized)
replacement (An organism's hard parts dissolve and are replaced by other minerals, like calcite, silica, pyrite, or iron)
carbonization=coalification (in which only the carbon remains in the specimen - other elements, like hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are removed)
recrystalization (hard parts either revert to more stable minerals or small crystals turn into larger crystals)
authigenic preservation (molds and casts of organisms that have been destroyed or dissolved).
Most animals did not fossilize; they simply decayed and were lost from the fossil record. Paleontologists estimate that only a small percentage of the dinosaur genera that ever lived have been or will be found as fossils.

Most of the dinosaur skeletons that are shown in museums are not actually fossils! They are lightweight fiberglass or resin replicas of the original fossils.

Why are Fossils Rock-Colored?

Because they ARE rocks! A fossilized object is just a rocky model of an ancient object. A fossil is composed of different materials than the original object was. During the fossilization process, the original atoms are replaced by new minerals, so a fossils doesn't have the same color (or chemical composition) as the original object. Fossils come in many colors and are made of many different types of minerals, depending on what the surrounding rock matrix was composed of; one dinosaur bone (Minmi) is an opal.
Also, some fossils of skin (and other soft body parts) have been found. Again, the color of the skin is not retained during the fossilization process, all that remains today is a rocky model of the original.

[pmike5869]

Mike I just thought you might want to know the experience I just had taking apart one of those Seki City damascus knives just like yours. I've taken apart a few folders and usually it's no big deal. Just slide a blade into a crack and beat the end of the knife with a plastic hammer. Did so with this one and it did come apart but wasn't quite as easy as most. Then after shearing the pins it's usually easy to separate the spring, blade, etc and the pins come out after a little coaxing. Well those Seki City guys have a different level of peening the pins into the frame. After I pried, cursed, and drilled them they reluctantly came out but they were really in there to stay. Bottom line,,, these Seki City knives are really well made and will take a lot of abuse based on how tight they are constructed. Took mine apart so I could do some file work but had no idea it would take the better part of an hour where it normally would take no more than 15 mins. Good basis for a custom job...

[Redrummd]

pmike5869 - Yes, they are very well put together. I had one of their 440C blade ones have a spring fail so I dissected it and found it appears they do a slight "cup" in the liner that they pein the pin into. I have started doing that on all of my knives now. I explain what I do in he tutorial I posted here on AAPK. I certainly try to pick up and use any good idea I discover!

[pmike5869]

Anogher revelation; The blade material is hard!!! Really takes a lot of time to put an edge on it. Just got it together and tried to sharpen it. A lot of times Damascus is just for show and really isn't good for edge holding ability. I've been using the same stones for many years and have learned to let them tell me something about the steel in the blades I sharpen. This Damascus Seki City is GOOOOOd stuff. I don't suppose many will sharpen these knives and would let them be a show item but they really hold an edge. Going to see if I can buy some more, good stock to have around for projects.

[Redrummd]

Look at it carefully. You will see it has a core that has the Damascus overlaid onto it. The core is 440C. The core really shows on the spine when doing a blade etch so if you do an etch you will neeed to sand and polish the spine or the core shows.