Wolf's tooth construction question-

[Paul Sherman]

I've seen some interesting shots of wolf's tooth pattern knives in the making and they seem to have one thing in common, they are all tremendously thick before forging, like 1/2".
I understand that the thickness will facilitate forge welding, but what to do with all that thickness once the billet is done?
I assume you wouldn't want to do any additional forging or will will spoil the tooth pattern...so does it all just get ground away for the final blade?

Owen Bush and Niels Provos example

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Justin Mercier did a great demo on this at Ashokan. I would contact him for any questions.

This is what I got from his talk and demo:
There will need to be some amount of forging done after the weld, but the largest part of reduction after the weld is done by stock removal.

 

[Kevin McGovern]

He said several times your stock should be final dimension before forge welding. Otherwise the pattern would distort into arches more than teeth. This was probably the biggest hump he had to get past to get the pattern right. I assume this would mean stock removal of the thickness as Stacy said.

 

[Paul Sherman]

Alright then, so it seems in the examples above there is a ton or removal ahead. Seems a waste, but I'd guess that thickness is needed for stability so the blade won't twist or distort under forging.

 

[Paul Sherman]

Tried a quick and dirty test on making the wolf's tooth pattern. Pretty straightforward, but you can see where the teeth stood too tall and got welded down onto the main bar (!!)