I summon the masters of patternwelding; hear me o great ones!

...anyways, I've been experimenting with integrals A LOT recently, and have encountered issues trying to forge them from patternwelded billets. Simple patterns, like random, twist, or ladder stay together just fine, but san mai has been fighting me. I had a beautiful san mai billet with a twisted shell that I just kept delaminating trying to get to shape - although it may have been because I put a pure nickle shim between the layers, and the nickle weld was giving. I am attempting a simpler san mai to see if I experience the same problem.

Are there patterns outside the three I mentioned that in your experiences hold together well when forging the blade to shape?

Thanks in advance for any advice; expect your blood sacrifice in the mail in 3 to 5 business days.

 

well theo I don't have any advice on this as I do mosty stock removal...but the 2nd and 3rd pics are a really good pattern in my opinion and should look great when they get cleaned up make sure to post pics when they are done....

The only blade pattern i have used outside of the ones you have already mentioned is Raindrop pattern, i have made a few blades out of that style before, all forged to shape and i have never expierience delamination also once i used one called firestorm by my supplier and had no issues with delamination through the forging process but i did not attempt any integral guard with this. I have only done 1 knife with the integral handle shape and while i did not expierience any delamination that could just be dumb luck. Not sure if that helps or not but I tried and while i do not require a blood sacrifice i mean i wouldnt say no to one either lol

Haha, yeah I have my goat and alter ready.

I think I'm just going to have to focus on using alloys that are very similar and simply won't delaminate once welded... hopefully