Kevin, not that I know of.
I once saw Bill Wiggins and Daniel Warren demo it one time at the Mid-America hammer-in about 6 years ago.
Tack weld basically any old stainless - 304, 416, 410, 420, etc. - to the outside of a high carbon core.
You just have to do it oxygen free, so wrap it in stainless heat treat foil.
Soak at welding temp a while and smash it.
Draw it out into a bar of your chosen thickness and from there it's a lot of stock removal.
I forge in the ricasso and tang.
The undulations you see in most of my San Mai is from the drawing dies on my press.
Some guys don't use drawing dies.
Some guys cut their San Mai edge for character.
When I saw it done, they used a power hammer for the whole thing.
I've talked to a lot of other guys who do it.
A lot.
I have yet to hear two guys do it the same.
The basic idea is to get the weld by whatever means you have available.
Then, with what resources you have, start learning how you, in your shop, can turn that into a knife.
I'm often reminded of my first "in depth" conversation I had with Don Hanson at least 6-7 years ago when I started pursuing hamons.
He just told me, "Ya' gotta play with it."
I thought he was yankin' my chain and just not telling me his "secrets".
There are no secrets.
He could not tell my how to do a hamon in MY SHOP because it is, in fact, so far removed from his.
Only the basics are the same.
Every single one of these I do are not 100% under my control.
My successes always surprise me - a little.
Different thicknesses of components result in different results.
You drawing out with press or power hammer? Your dies aren't like my dies.
Presses draw out the inside of the billet.
Power hammers draw the outside of the billet.
You know, when press dies smoosh a piece of steel or a bar of damascus, as soon as they hit the surface, they suck the heat out of the outside of the billet. The inside stays hot for a while, so that's the area getting reduced the most.
A power hammer whacks the outside of the billet, so it reduces the outside the most.
So how I do my work, or any maker does his work, differs from everybody else.
That's too much talk, but just illustrates how all you need to do is make sure you get the weld, then see what you can do with it.
You can do what I did - make a short billet only an inch or two long.
Weld it.
Draw it out to your thickness and grind and etch it.
See what you got.
Adjust - something.
Remember what you did.
The billet for this knife started only 3 inches long.
You just gotta put your time in and see what you end up with using your resources and equipment.
It took me a good year to figure out my "recipe" and a whole pile of failed blades.
And keep in mind that you then need to learn the heat treat.
The stainless does not harden. And when the core starts to create martensite, there's a real war gong on with stresses.
I've had numerous blades literally rip themselves in half lengthwise - right down the middle.
It's a dance, a ballet.
You just gotta learn how the music plays in your ball room.
Topic: San Mai Hunter for a local.... (Read 1623 times)
