forging laminated steel

[kbaknife]

I just don't understand that "ease of sharpening". It just does NOT matter what's on the outside.
The center core is still there and needs to be sharpened and is HARD!
If that center core is easy to sharpen, it is NOT because of the outside. It's because they have tempered it to be so.
Putting two pieces of soft pine on either side of a piece of oak does not make the oak easier to cut through.

[Scott Roush]

But there is a lot less hard stuff to work through. Like I said... It probably doesn't help much with 'ease of sharpening' but I just wanted to point out that with flat grinding there is a lot of wearing down of the outer layer... unlike the examples you showed. I just bring it up because that was one of the reasons you thought the 'ease of sharpening' issue was bunk.

Seriously... We don't need to keep going on this! I just thought about it this morning as I was waking up.

Thanks again for schooling me on this issue. I learned a ton from it.

Oh by the way.... I found a forge (Pinewood Forge)in northern Minnesota that makes these kind of knives - they are what he calls Scandinavian wood carving knives and they are laminated steel - what he calls '01' high carbon/high alloy tool steel. I can't tell if he is actually forge welding the steel or if he is buying the steel and doing stock removal.