A friend has asked me to forge a small axe for him. I blacksmith as a hobby and didn't really want to buy a large amount of stock for the one project. However, I have a lot of 3/8" square stock, so I was thinking of just stacking 4 or 5 of them and forge welding them to make my stock. 

I don't have any need for a pattern, but IF I'm going to get one, I might as well put in the effort to make it interesting. I know the different layers won't oxidize at different rates, but will the welds themselves show up?

Unless you are a practiced forge welder you may do better to purchase inexpensive mild steel and concentrate your welding efforts  on welding in the edge.

Different alloys will show different colors under the same conditions.  I have a commercial axe that I bought in my teens that has mild steel body but a hardened steel insert for the edge.  Welds of identical materials normally don't show if they are competently done and sound.

Forge welding often uses up a lot of material in scale so welding up layers and forging it out may mean that you will lose material.

 

My steel stocks are the other way around: I have lots of sizes of tool/spring steels, but not much in the way of mild. So for tools that are outside of my norm, I pop along to a local fabricator and buy a small amount of mild in the size I need for that project. I made a really big Dane Axe earlier in the year and he found me a foot long chunk of 2x5" barstock. I'd never be able to move that size stock, let alone want to by a whole length of it!

 

Alternatively, find a hammer of the right sort of size and reforge that into an axe;)

"Welds of identical materials normally don't show if they are competently done and sound"  which is why forge welded cable shows no pattern when etched????

Weld zones will often show up even when welding the same material together due to surface effects caused by welding.  They are generally hard to see without careful work---very weak acids for example.

8 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

"Welds of identical materials normally don't show if they are competently done and sound"  which is why forge welded cable shows no pattern when etched????

Weld zones will often show up even when welding the same material together due to surface effects caused by welding.  They are generally hard to see without careful work---very weak acids for example.

Yes they will show if acid etched but  not to casual inspection and decorative effect.   I think cable is a special case because so much area is treated to different conditions when considered at microscopic level.    If you try make your welds visible I guess the contrast between decarb at the weld boundary and the body can be distinguished.  When I weld mild steel I work to avoid making the weld line nearly invisible. Maybe my eyes are just that bad but I like to think I succeed most of the time.  Doubt that may Damascus guru's here allow any weld line to be visible that they don't want visible.