Chris, You are starting to grasp for straws and reach for stars.
Stop and think about what you are trying to accomplish.
The sword blade cracked. There are several ways to avoid this heartbreak again:
1) Never make another sword blade. (This is the only method that is guaranteed to work)
2) use a simpler mono-steel ,like 1050
3) use a simple san-mai, like 1050 and W-1, even 1030 and W-1
You can forge weld the three layer bar yourself easily. Do some reading and studying on making damascus. The san-mai bar is just a starter billet.
If you don't want to make the bar yourself, contact someone ,like Chris Marks -
www.marksforge.com - and he will set up the billet for you. I have had Chris make up several large billets for me to forge a sword out of (They were complex damascus billets, but he can do simple,too). If you want stunning, he can do a san-mai with a multi layer 52100 core and twist damascus san-mai sides. He is quite reasonable for the amount of work that is required. On a simple three layer bar, I don't think he would charge a whole lot. He will make the bar to your size request.
If you are going to try it yourself, I would suggest a 1/8" core of W-1, 52100, or 1095 and 3/16 sides of 1050. Then drawn/pressed down to 3/8" . You can then forge it to your desired shape easily.
Stacy
