1095 / 416 Stainless Sanmai

M

Mark Basford

Joined
Nov 8, 2005
Messages
103
This is a Shinichi Watanabe / Bill Burke / Burt Foster inspired high carbon/stainless sanmai AKA kurouchi gyuuto AKA warikomi houcho

Blade: 1095 clad in 416 Stainless Steel
OAL: 12.5"
Blade Length: 7.25"
Bolster: Buffalo Horn with Ivory Spacer
Handle: Ebony with .25" mosaic pin
Blade Finish: 1500 grit Satin/FeCl Etch
Handle Finish: 1500 grit horn & ivory/1000 grit handle - danish oil

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Proceedure:
1) Stacked and welded the following:
.125" 15N20/ .1875" 416/ .25" 1095/ .1875" 416/ .125" 15N20
2) Wrapped in two layers of heat treating foil with a piece of brown paper and place in the forge for 20 min - flipping at the 15 min mark.
3) Pressed on flat dies to weld on first heat
4) Fullered to .25" thick over the next 3-4 heats
5) Peeled / Ground off 15N20 which only partially bonded
6) Hand forged to shape
7) Quenched in Parks 50 / Oven tempered

It took me 3 attempts to get this too work. The first 2 were canister welds, one of which exploded (too much WD-40) and the other partially delaminated. So, I'll stay away from canisters for a while.

I was incredibly discouraged until visiting Burt Foster's website, which inspired me to try again - his work is amazing ... And last week's posting by Bill Burke helped me to understand why I was forging 1095 peanut butter between 416 crackers - Thanks Bill.



Any comments - Positive or Negative are ALWAYS welcome.



Literal Translation of Japanese Names:
Sanmai: Three Layers
Korouchi Gyuuto: Black (high carbon) Centered Meat (Chef's) Knife
Warikomi Houcho: Interupted (stainless or low carbon by high carbon) Kitchen Knife
 
Mark that knife is very impressive. I havent tried bonding stainless to HC yet and am intrigued with the process. You look to have nailed it. Nice work!

Question: was the 15n20 supposed to be sacrificed? It seemed to be a very thick stack if it was left on and would take allot of drawing to thin it down for the intended use as a kitchen knife.
I know Bill talks about a lower heat for the initial weld. Do you have a pyrometer and can tell me what temp it did weld at?
 
thanks for the feedback gentlemen.


Bruce Bump said:
Question: was the 15n20 supposed to be sacrificed? It seemed to be a very thick stack if it was left on and would take allot of drawing to thin it down for the intended use as a kitchen knife.
Click to expand...

I tried to take the previous attempt, which was an alternating 304 and 316 - with a .125"1095 center all the way to blade form and learned a bunch in the process. The initial weld flattened to .25" on the first heat, so it was a much thinner piece to start.

1) Since I don't have a power hammer, I have many more heats to get to a finished thickness than most which meant too much loss from oxydation. So I came up with the sacrificial layer idea. I use 15N20 because I didn't have any 1.5" wide mild steel on hand.

2) The 1095 works alot easier than stainless, so I had forged most it out from between the stainless layers like peanut butter between crackers - so I decided to double stack the 1095 on the third attempt... As I mentioned before, Bill explained that it may have been working too hot as stainless will harden at higher heats.

I know Bill talks about a lower heat for the initial weld. Do you have a pyrometer and can tell me what temp it did weld at?
Click to expand...

I was welding at 2465 F, which is near theupper limit of my pyrometer (2492).

I got that temperature from Ariel Salverria's stainless damascus tutorial. If there is a better temperature range, I'd love to hear it
 
Great looking knife, the pores on the ebony do kind of stand out in that first picture, have you tried filling them?
 
Luke Sheridan said:
Great looking knife, the pores on the ebony do kind of stand out in that first picture, have you tried filling them?
Click to expand...

I hadn't thought of it... but now that you mention it, I can see exactly what you mean.

What would you recommend as a filler? Will additional coats of danish oil help or is something like super glue what you had in mind? And how will that effect the finish?
 
ArielSalaverria said:
Very nice! :cool:

Ariel
Click to expand...

Thanks Ariel,

I owe you a huge thanks. If it weren't for your tutorials I never would have known where to start.

Apart from one of Johnny Stout's hammer-ins a few years ago (which was awesome), everything I know about knife forging and making has been learned via books, videos and the Internet.... And you are an Internet Tutorial Pioneer IMO.

Thanks for all that you do.
 
Mark Basford said:
I hadn't thought of it... but now that you mention it, I can see exactly what you mean.

What would you recommend as a filler? Will additional coats of danish oil help or is something like super glue what you had in mind? And how will that effect the finish?
Click to expand...

I would take some super glue, put some on the handle and sand it in with a medium grit paper like 150 or 200, once all the pores are filled(sand across the length of the pores or you will pull the dust out of the pores) let it dry, then lightly sand it down so there is no super glue except in the pores, then finish as normal, it shouldn't effect the finish at all.

Mostly I've used the french polish method with shellac and pumice, but that's a little more involved.
 
Luke Sheridan said:
I would take some super glue, put some on the handle and sand it in with a medium grit paper like 150 or 200, once all the pores are filled(sand across the length of the pores or you will pull the dust out of the pores) let it dry, then lightly sand it down so there is no super glue except in the pores, then finish as normal, it shouldn't effect the finish at all.
Click to expand...

So you sand the handle against the grain while the glue is wet? Is the purpose to fill the pore with a mixure of glue and dust?

Could you mix the dust and glue separately, then apply it to the handle as with affixing scales or will the results be inferior?

I have heard of a similar method for filling cracks from my woodturning father in law: Sanding to fill up the crack with saw dust, then "sealing" it with a layer of super glue which is allowed to dry before being sanded flush...
 
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