While I couldn't focus on models, I still needed to keep busy with something. So I tried my hand at working steel for the first time. I don't have a forge, so my first stop was Etsy for some materials. I picked up some Damascus steel blanks. If you aren't familiar with Damascus steel, it is simply two different types of steel with varying amounts of Carbon that are forge-welded together. The different amounts of carbon in the steel react to certain chemicals differently, causing the pattern created in the forge-welding process to show up. Check the link above for more details.
I decided on making letter openers so I wouldn't have to deal with heat treating the blades. Since this process required some prototyping, not all of the images are from the same knife.
The first thing I did was to create a pattern in Fusion360.
Then I found a local shop that would cut the basic shape with a water jet, which was, surprisingly, much less expensive than I thought!
Once the basic shape was set, I used a belt grinder to profile the blade. The image below shows the raw blank from the water-jet cutting and a "mostly" profiled blade. I did a very light chemical etch to show the pattern.
Many belts lost their lives in this process, along with a few pairs of gloves (the hot steel kept burning through them). Minimal blood was lost.
Much like models, preparation of the material is key—lots and lots of sanding was required to remove the larger scratches from grinding.
The sanding completely removes the oxide layer which reveals the pattern. To etch the blades I used a 50% solution of Ferric Chloride. I just made a little tube out of PVC pipe and left the blades in for about 10 minutes in total. One type of steel is eaten away and the other layer's oxide coating is lightly sanded away.
I used my laser cutter to prepare the wood for the knife scales.
The ablation created by the laser caused the sap in the wood to get quite sticky, but oddly, it smelled really nice.
I used brass rods and 2-part epoxy to secure the scales to the blade.
After that, the only thing to do is sand down the handles and apply Danish oil.
This example used a two-part pin. The outer tube is brass and the inner rod is copper.
I made a simple box for Scott as well. I used my laser cutter and made two identical sets of letters. One was Maple, and the other was African Mahogany. I used a black CA glue to glue the letters onto the corresponding piece of wood to create a pseudo inlay.
Very good job on the blades, specially the damask one! 
