Some san mai and experiments WIP

[WillC]

A little Wip for some techniques I have picked up in san mai. And an experiment in 01/damascus to make a blade for testing and comparison.

First making some simple damascus in 75ni8/en42J



The billet welded up, I now use the fullers in the power hammer to manipulate the layers, a sort of forged ladder effect, there is a thickening and thinning of the layers that remains after flattening.



Cut to 4 and restack, back in the fire.

Some slightly sharper fuller tools


Can see the cool grain in the damascus

Damascus billet

San mai'd with mild steel. The ratio is important, depending on how close you want the san mai, the type of grind etc. The mild will thin quicker than the core and this needs to be allowed for.


I fullered the san mai together as well, to achieve a ripple effect on the weld line.

Plenty of stock, quite an efficient use of damascus.

Ratio after forging

I got an extra one out of the left over damascus too. This one had the damascus as the cladding and 01 in the middle. I've been looking at the temper temperatures and I think these will work well together. At a 200*c temper I should have something like 62hrc on the core and 52ish hrc on the damascus cladding. Sounds good to me

[TB_London]

I was waiting for the wip to appear over here

Are the sharper fullers a new addition?

[Eamon Burke]

[Mike]

Can't wait to see it etched. You sir get the cool WIP seal of approval.

[WillC]

Thanks Guys, san mai is fun, but frustrating when you get it wrong. I think its particularly hard for shallower grinds, because there is such a fine line between it looking good or appearing overground in places, i.e. too much core showing. I'm still not sure how san mai works for single bevel knives? Is the carbon steel just on one side only, if so that must be very hard to keep straight on ht.
Tom, those fuller are fairly similar to the fixed hammer ones really, I made them to have a more quick change system, for fullering then flatting. Nothing really beats the control of having the fixed ones in the hammer though if precision fullering is the aim. I've made a few handy quick change tools specific to knife making now, one for drawing the tang also. I might have to get some fixed die's machined like the Japanese hammers have soon, with a large die on the bottom, smaller on the top, for tapering thinning the blade and drawing the tang.

[tk59]

You are really moving, Will! I love it when a WIP teaches me something.

[WillC]

The amount i've learnt from you guys on here, its a pleasure to share some stuff about forging.

[Dave Martell]

Very cool WIP again Will - thanks!

[TB_London]

Lol, drawing out the tang on your anyang is a fun eperience

Yeah single bevel knives only have the hardening steel (Hagane) on one side

Vid below show's Doi forging one out

[WillC]

Cheers Tom, yep I think he's done that a few times
Had a play with the test 01/san mai billet today. Was going to be a Gyuto, but changed my mind and did another Suji.

HT'd and ground, very much a test knife this so I fully convexed the faces, see if I like it better. The san mai was only just big enough, It was an effort to get it to hit the edge in places But i'm pleased with the way it is nice and close and supportive to the core, with a nice wiggle from the fullers.
Terrible light today, but here are some pics. Its rough ground and etched. I'm just about to hone it up to see what it can do before any hand rubbing. The tip is super pointy, plenty of room for adjustment though.




Here's the result of the damascus cored San mai