Butterfly Roses 
by
Audra Draper, MS




I live in the Portland, Oregon area.  It's not called, "The Rose City,"
for no reason.  Portland is, in fact, the home of the International
Rose Test Garden which preserves almost 600 species of
roses.  I've got a modest rose garden of my own.

And so I suggested to Audra the theme of Roses.

The idea reminded her of a song she sung in a high school 
performance and she declared that she was destined to make
this knife, Butterfly Roses.




The handles are carved and engraved bronze with copper roses affixed.




Audra did all of the work.  She made the bronze handles.  She
carved the roses in relief on the handles.  She engraved
the leaves and scrollwork that reminds one of rose stems
and vines .  And she sculpted the copper roses that adorn
the handles.

The blade is forged from her own Damascus steel composed
of 15N20 and 1084 steel.  

While this is quite a simplification, Damascus steel is made
by forging two steel alloys together.  The two alloys fuse
into one piece and yet remain separate.  A classic way to
do this is to begin with two sheets of different steel and stack
them one on top of the other.  Heat them together and then 
pound them until they fuse.  Fold this in half and then heat
it and pound it again.  Repeat this process dozens and dozens
of times and then cut the resulting material at an angle.
This angled cut will reveal the layered pattern.  

But, there's very little visible difference between any 
two steel alloys.  However, if one of the two alloys is 
high in nickel, say 15N20 alloy, and the other is high 
in carbon, say 1084 alloy, then etching the surface with 
a mild acid will reveal the difference.  The nickel alloy
will actually become bright silver in response to the 
acid and the carbon alloy will turn dark gray to even black.

While the etching is a surface finish, the pattern of
Damascus steel is not just skin-deep.  It's part of the 
metal and it goes all the way through.

While Damascus steel sure is pretty, it's very practical
too.  Nickel steel is very tough, but carbon steel takes
an excellent edge.  A Damascus steel that mixes the 
two will mix these two traits.

By the way, making good Damascus steel is not as 
easy as I have suggested here.  It is a high art unto 
itself and Audra just keeps getting better and better.



Just look at the pattern and the contrast on that steel.

The pattern reminds me of the busy, dense overlap of
branches and leaves one sees looking into a thicket of roses.

I told her Audra could do whatever blade profile she wanted to.
I figured she'd select an easy profile, a dagger or maybe
just a utility or bowie profile.  I was shocked when she sent
the first pictures of the most difficult blade profile to make:
a Kris.


 

The blade is razor-sharp and double-edged.

Remember what I said about the dichotomy of roses,
about how one reaches for their enchanting beauty
only at risk of the thorns?

A Kris is a blade with no dichotomy.  It's no good for
cutting food or skinning an animal.  No.  A Kris is a 
blade for fighting.  The undulating blade makes a wider
wound and, when stabbing, if it encounters a hard 
object, a bone perhaps, it doesn't stop but slides 
around to go on even deeper.

And so we have a beautiful knife with glowing bronze 
handles and intricate, beautiful sculpture and 
carving and engraving on the handles but you 
reach for it only at risk of its Kris-blade thorn.