Stainless San Mai - can I mig weld on a tang extension?

M

Maelstrom78

Joined
Sep 21, 2013
Messages
1,574
I do mostly kitchen knives. I would like to order some stainless clad San Mai from dictum or somewhere ( anyone have a good source).

Their sizes are not conducive to a large chef or carving knife with the available bars at 9ish inches total length.

Would it be the worst thing to mig (I don't have a tig welder but I guess I could find a machine shop that would do it for me) on part of the tang before HT?

I work out of my garage so I couldn't forge weld anything either.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
No. Lots of people do it with pattern welded steel. I would just make sure 40% or so of the tang was the original material. Maybe less is ok on a kitchen knife.
 
You can weld it. Use 410 or 416 for the tang material. Bevel ends to be welded and leave a small gap to allow for 100% penetration weld. Post heat weld area to a dull red a couple of times. Weld area will still be hard, weld tang before heat treating blade. Best for hidden tangs, full tangs will show weld area.

Hoss
 
We keep some San Mai in stock, Nitro-b/19C27/Nitro-b at just over 3/32" thick. We can ship to the US through UPS in 2/3 days If you need any more info just let me know!
 
Here is a couple as well. If I order enough I get free shipping too.

https://www.dictum.com/en/materials...ese-pm-suminagashi-flat-steel-250-x-40-x-3-mm

or thinner but wider stock

https://www.dictum.com/en/materials/steel/steel/719614/japanese-suminagashi-flat-steel-extra-thin

Anyone work with these steels? I believe Stacy has said he has ordered from Dictum before.

So one of the top and 3 of the bottom hits the mark for free shipping.

David thanks for the offer but I am looking more for the suminagashi style.
 
I'd say that Aldo has 410/52100 San mai but with the current currency balance it might pay to buy from dictum.
 
Yep I have had nothing but good stuff from Aldo. I check there first always!

-Thanks Devin for the heads up on the 410 or 416 stainless.
 
Last edited:
The dictum steel is hitachi white or blue core with a very pure low carbon outer jacket. It almost like wrought iron. I've done a few blades in it, and they turned out great. They have the 21 layer steel with a white or blue core as well.

Edit: you linked to the vg10 pieces, different than what I used.

Warren
 
Last edited:
Dictum also has suminagashi, which is layers of stainless san-mai each side of the SFG-2 high carbon core.
 
Yep I think the suminagashi is what I want to give a try. I will likely send it out. Anything special about the heat treat?

I've used Peter's and Trugrit in the past and have been happy with the results. I'll give them a call and make sure they have heat treated suminagashi in the past.

Fun!
 
I use Peter's. The HT is for the core steel. The suminagashi sides usually do not harden.

Dictum sells several types of suminagashi. I use the white paper core with eleven layers on each side most. They also have the thirty-two stainless layers each side on an SG-2 core. This is really nice stuff ... but expensive.

I like the white paper core suminagashi because it comes in 1.25" width pieces one meter long, and is almost 1/4" thick ( great for forging out the edge). You can make a quite respectable katana or wakizashi from it. Right now, that comes to $65 a sword including shipping. ( I just re-ordered six bars). Two bars does a matching katana, wakizashi, and tanto.

The SG-2 material is 1.6" wide, but only comes in 10" pieces that are 3mm (1/8") thick. It also costs five times as much per foot.
 
i've also been wanting to weld on tangs, but lately I seem to be moving away from large knives to folders so I guess I saved that problem!
I hated to have that expensive steel tied up in the real estate of the handle. lol

I have not used the SS clad from Dictum.

but I've used plenty of the other laminated steels.
IMO the white paper core with eleven layers on each side that Stacy described is the best stuff to forge and work with.
I get it from Workshop Heaven in the UK
It has a thicker core which is more forgiving when you forge, the stock is also thicker and you can get the length you want if you forge it out.

if you want a more traditional Japanese HT method, you can HT as per - http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1397121-laminated-Hitachi-White-and-Blue-Steel-Heat-Treat-Process?p=16104069#post16104069

or contact me, I can do it for you

One other note related and I hope I don't come across as elitist or pompous. But IMO the best laminated steel is 410 stainless clad white steel that Murray Carter gets.
I've been hoarding it and only just started using it myself recently. For the better part of a year and 50 blades I've used the less expensive laminated steels as I learned and gained more experience.
I realize this steel is largely unavailable to most but my limited experience tells me that it grinds easier, sharpens easier, and gets an even more keen edge.
I don't have any empirical data to back this up, just from my personal use.

regards
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top