San Mai billet size

[Seffers93]

Hey everyone,

I just went and bought a cheap hydraulic press and a welder and also made a pretty good makeshift anvil. I have been dying to try out some San Mai.
My only question has to do with bar stock thickness. If I’m trying to draw out a San mai billet to around (or a little over) 1/8” thick for a 7” to 8” blade, what thickness/size should I start with for my three bar stock steels to stack and weld?
Thanks

 

[HSC /// Knives]

There are several ways to do this and different makers have different preferences. You might start with what materials are available to you. Sometimes this can be a constraining factor. can you list what core and cladding you will use and what you know you can obtain

 

[Seffers93]

There are several ways to do this and different makers have different preferences. You might start with what materials are available to you. Sometimes this can be a constraining factor. can you list what core and cladding you will use and what you know you can obtain

Yes, I was planning on using 1084 core and 15N20 cladding.

 

[HSC /// Knives]

15n20 is a hardenable steel. Wouldn’t you want a low carbon soft cladding?

 

[Seffers93]

15n20 is a hardenable steel. Wouldn’t you want a low carbon soft cladding?

That would make sense! I was just going off of what I’ve heard other people doing. I haven’t really dug into what steels would be best. I suppose I should take a hard pause and do more research.