BLACK WIDOW 52100 / 15N20 San Mai

FORGE

Well-Known Member
I have had this blade sitting around for a couple of years and decided to get it finished.
The core is 52100 with 15N20 sides, handle black linen Micarta, OAL is 11 inches
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I just bought a 12" billet of Stainless Steel "clad" 52100 from Aldo and I received it yesterday. As I look at the sides of it it looks like the layers are perfectly straight with one another. If it is like that all the way through I will get a straight line when I grind in the bevel. Your knife has beautiful activity in the blade like what I want. In order to get that activity do I need to heat up this billet and beat on it a little in order to distort the surfaces of the different layers or if I grind it as is will that activity be there just from the cladding (forging) process? Thanks,

Wallace
 
I just bought a 12" billet of Stainless Steel "clad" 52100 from Aldo and I received it yesterday. As I look at the sides of it it looks like the layers are perfectly straight with one another. If it is like that all the way through I will get a straight line when I grind in the bevel. Your knife has beautiful activity in the blade like what I want. In order to get that activity do I need to heat up this billet and beat on it a little in order to distort the surfaces of the different layers or if I grind it as is will that activity be there just from the cladding (forging) process? Thanks,
Wallace

When I forged this piece I purposely messed with it to offset and disrupt the center section so that when I ground it you would see the distortion pattern.
If you look down the piece of steel you have and if the center section is a nice straight line then I would guess that you are going to get exactly what you described, a straight line when you grind it.
The thickness of the center section will determine it you can heat it and distort it enough to get a pattern when you grind your blade. Depending what type of SS it is clad with, you may get some carbon migration and that can look quite nice even if the 52100 grind is straight.
 
The SS is 410 and I am hoping for some migration even if I didn't heat it and grind it myself. However, after your comments, I don't think I have any choice because the center section is almost perfectly straight. Do you have any suggestions on how I pound it? Should I try and put in a pattern or maybe place a bar perpendicular to the billet and pound on it - I suppose that would give me some kind of a wavy pattern. Any suggestions would be appreciated . Thanks

Wallace
 
The SS is 410 and I am hoping for some migration even if I didn't heat it and grind it myself. However, after your comments, I don't think I have any choice because the center section is almost perfectly straight. Do you have any suggestions on how I pound it? Should I try and put in a pattern or maybe place a bar perpendicular to the billet and pound on it - I suppose that would give me some kind of a wavy pattern. Any suggestions would be appreciated . Thanks

Wallace

Once again it would depend on thick the core is. If you don't have a press I would take something like a 1 inch round bar,grind a flat on one side for the hammer to hit, place it on the hot strip (forging temp) and see if you can distort the core. Do this on both sides, then flatten the bar out to straighten it.
I would only do this to the edge of the bar you plan to use as the cutting edge of your blade.
 
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