San Mai width

[Greenberg Woods]

Im making some bars of San mai/ laminated steel soon for kitchen knives, and The steel i ordered is 2 inches wide. Im using hand hammers, and a lot of people have said 1 inch is what is managed in damascus. Does that carry over to laminated? or could i hand laminate 2 inch wide pieces? thanks a bunch

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

The wider and thicker the billet the harder it is to weld up. I would go for 1.5" san-mai and see how it goes.

 

[J W Bensinger]

I wouldn't want to deal with anything wider than 1.5". Biggest I go even for sword length billets is 1.25".