Another trial run. My sister has requested a knife in Damascus, and I wanted to work in a band of turquoise into the handle. The tang is tapered which adds some difficulty in making sure I keep the bands aligned as I need to drill the handle holes while affixed to the blade (temporarily) to account for the angle imparted by the taper. So what to do! Make a trail for myself. Blade is 1095 with differential hardening by using Rutlands fire cement, which worked great!
Quenched in canola at 130f