Love your knife Will....interesting texture. What type of handle will you put on it???Is it new? SteelyJan

Really Cool Will, I love the marbled effect.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

Thanks for the nice comments -
This is the first time I've done this with chain. basically, as Nelson suggested, took some links of bike chain, tacked it together at a few points with the mig, just to keep it together, weld on a piece of flat bar for a handle to save using tongs, then get it up to welding heat ( I use a coke fire).
At first you have to get it only just hot enough, and tap it fairly gently so's not to make it fly apart all over the workshop, or fry outside bits before the inner bits are good and hot. As I consolidate the lump, and squeeze the metal into a more homogenous mass I start heating the billet up to a real welding heat, so the whole surface is just getting molten, and hit it harder as I forge it ( in this case the chain steel was obviously tough stuff and took some real bashing to form it once it was solid.
Then lots of nasty grinding, sanding and a quick acid etch to bring the pattern out ( Alleged old Norse saying " he who would a good sword win , should forge it thick and grind it thin!)In my experience there's always a few faults and slag inclusions on the surface, but with enough metal to work with you can get down to a decent surface...
Your classic pattern welding involves essentially welding up a laminate of different metals, folding and rewelding to get the desired number of layers, then manipulating the pattern by twisting, or drilling or chisselling through the layers, then forging flat again. But welding chain or more commonly steel cable up gives you an interesting pattern without many folds, or other manipulation...
I've not managed to weld stainless in this way , but people do. Also nickel within the pattern can be very striking, but I've never tried it.
The whole business can suck you in and obsess you if you're not careful, and it's very time consuming, so I keep holding myself back from the edge !
Sorry I've rambled."Thepattern welded blade" and other titles by Jim Hrisoulas are good if you wanna risk getting sucked in...
Will Jones

Ommitted from the manifesto above - lots of borax flux helps as you weld her up, and if welding chain or cable you gotta degrease and clean it as thoroughly as possible before you start.
It's really not as hard as it probably sounds - certainly if you do forge welding on a regular basis.. at least this stuff's all together in one lump as you get it to heat and weld it. I have way more trouble getting two separate bits of steel to welding temperature in the fire simultaneously, positioning them on the anvil just right and welding em together neatly with only the two hands and half a brain I'm blessed with!
The devil's in the detail though...as with so many things, pattern welding's quite simple, but really good pattern welding's very very difficult!
Will Jones