[FERRARIVS]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

For clarity, I'm fairly new to forging in general, but have got the hang of many of the forming techniqes and I've done some successful welds (a handful). Not long after I posted my question I was able to weld the HC steel I have (1045) to the mild quite well- it's very strong. I hammered it a good deal and didn't break the weld as well. So at least that aspect I know I can do, and actually a variation of the sandwich idea did occur to me at about 0430 on Friday- using two strips of tool steel for each edge rather than just one. Welding one to one side of the mild steel, then flipping and repeating. Similar in effect to the split-and-insert, which I had considered but was concerned would be rather more difficult for me at least, and just the opposite pattern (HC into MS rather than MS into HC) as the 'sandwich'. The main issue it seems I'm left with is holding everything together- it seems tack welds are commonly used by guys for this, so I'll have to rustle up a 110V arc welder...