Iv been beating on metal for a while and have goten enterested in making knives. I was given a bundel of A2 rods about 3/8 i know i can make a number of small tools from it but i was thinking of trying to forge weld it into a knife billet just dont know if it would be a wast of time having never delt with it. My thought on the billet was to make a 4 by 4 billet of rods alternating a difrent type rod through out it so no A2 rods would be directly conected tack the ends and twist it like a large cable. If it can be done what would be recomended for my alternate rods. If it cant be done there all going to be destend to become small tools and such.

I have not tried a billet of A-2 given a windfall like you have I would give it a go,,,I do not remember the carbon content of A-2 look that up,,I like a carbon knife to have 80 points of carbon or more,,,,if you mix 1% carbon steel with the same amount of mild steel you will roughly dilute the carbon content of the A-2 by half, use this as a guide when you pick steel to mix into the billet,,,A-2 alone makes real nice blades....A-2 is air hardening, if you mix oil hardening with it it will take a bit if playing to find the right medium for hardening Good luck

Howdy,
Not 100% positive but I think A2 is an air hardening tool steel. Also not sure of the carbon content.

I guess I should read ALL the posts Yeah, what Rich said :)