There's a hunting camp of about 15 guys that show up every year down the road for rifle season in northern Minnesota.
Last year - this weekend - the neighbor brought about a dozen of them over to my shop. When one of them saw a hunter I was working on, he said, "Put me on your list!!"
Well, they're showing up this weekend and he doesn't know it, but I will have his knife ready.
We're going to try to sneak it in on him somehow.
I'm thinking we might get it into his stand the night before and when he gets there in the morning, he'll find his knife!
We'll see how it goes.
It's a 1095/420 San Mai affair with a stabilized, curly walnut gripper.

Wow! Nice!

Nice one Karl. He'll love it.

Very nice indeed.  I always love your hot blued San Mai.  Hope you figure a good way to get it to him and I know he'll love it.  

Matt

One fine piece of workmanship Karl. very nice as always
Dana

Matt - no bluing involved, buddy.
That's just etched 1095.

QuoteOriginally posted by tomsm44:
Very nice indeed.  I always love your hot blued San Mai.  Hope you figure a good way to get it to him and I know he'll love it.  

Matt

Very very nice!That guy will remember that forever.

I will be in the north section ,in a tree stand down by the creek ,if you have more than one.Believe me I will be happy.
LOL

Karl I would like to learn how to do the San Mai
is there some vidio or book, or something you could suggest.Thank you Kevin

Kevin, not that I know of.
I once saw Bill Wiggins and Daniel Warren demo it one time at the Mid-America hammer-in about 6 years ago.
Tack weld basically any old stainless - 304, 416, 410, 420, etc. - to the outside of a high carbon core.
You just have to do it oxygen free, so wrap it in stainless heat treat foil.
Soak at welding temp a while and smash it.
Draw it out into a bar of your chosen thickness and from there it's a lot of stock removal.
I forge in the ricasso and tang.
The undulations you see in most of my San Mai is from the drawing dies on my press.
Some guys don't use drawing dies.
Some guys cut their San Mai edge for character.
When I saw it done, they used a power hammer for the whole thing.
I've talked to a lot of other guys who do it.
A lot.
I have yet to hear two guys do it the same.
The basic idea is to get the weld by whatever means you have available.
Then, with what resources you have, start learning how you, in your shop, can turn that into a knife.
I'm often reminded of my first "in depth" conversation I had with Don Hanson at least 6-7 years ago when I started pursuing hamons.
He just told me, "Ya' gotta play with it."
I thought he was yankin' my chain and just not telling me his "secrets".
There are no secrets.
He could not tell my how to do a hamon in MY SHOP because it is, in fact, so far removed from his.
Only the basics are the same.
Every single one of these I do are not 100% under my control.
My successes always surprise me - a little.
Different thicknesses of components result in different results.
You drawing out with press or power hammer? Your dies aren't like my dies.
Presses draw out the inside of the billet.
Power hammers draw the outside of the billet.
You know, when press dies smoosh a piece of steel or a bar of damascus, as soon as they hit the surface, they suck the heat out of the outside of the billet. The inside stays hot for a while, so that's the area getting reduced the most.
A power hammer whacks the outside of the billet, so it reduces the outside the most.
So how I do my work, or any maker does his work, differs from everybody else.
That's too much talk, but just illustrates how all you need to do is make sure you get the weld, then see what you can do with it.
You can do what I did - make a short billet only an inch or two long.
Weld it.
Draw it out to your thickness and grind and etch it.
See what you got.
Adjust  - something.
Remember what you did.
The billet for this knife started only 3 inches long.
You just gotta put your time in and see what you end up with using your resources and equipment.
It took me a good year to figure out my "recipe" and a whole pile of failed blades.
And keep in mind that you then need to learn the heat treat.
The stainless does not harden. And when the core starts to create martensite, there's a real war gong on with stresses.
I've had numerous blades literally rip themselves in half lengthwise - right down the middle.
It's a dance, a ballet.
You just gotta learn how the music plays in your ball room.

Work of art.

that is a beauty

Great knife Karl.
Thanks for the "too much talk" makes me want to try some of that san mai........when I get the time.
Darcy  

doubla tap  

Thank You Karl,I'll give it a try.

I assume 1095 and 420 are the best or easiest?

If not please tell me the combination that might stay together for beginer.
Also could you tell me if all three pieces need to be the same thicknes?(say .25")
Also good luck hunting.

Nice knife Karl, someone will get a great surprise. And a great insight on doing San Mai
Cheers Dan

Very nice knife, I really enjoy your San Mai knives.
Joel

I have used 1095, W1 and W2, as well as 304, 416 and 420.
I have not found one to work better than the other.
I really don't think it makes any difference.
I use 3/8" thick 1095 for the core and 1/4" stainless for the jacket.
I want the steel to be at welding heat as long as I can, so I go thick and draw it out.
Keep in mind that it's thicker on the inside, because, since I use my press for most of the San Mai weld, the center moves more than the outside.
It depends on your method.
Weld a piece up, draw it out and see what get.
Adjust accordingly to your methods.

Thank You Karl

really nice!

Very nice Karl. For a billet with 1095 how drastically different is the  HT? Have you tested many to destruction?  What does the grain structure look like in the stainless portion? Just some questions that have piqued my curiosity at times.

Thanks.

Chris

Thanks for sharing so much information.  That's what I like about this website.  Everybody is always ready to help anybody out.  I looked at it on my iPhone the first time and it looked much darker on the little screen which made me think it was blued.  Later on the computer it was obviously a dark gray etched finish.  I love using a bead blasted/etched finish on "working" knives that I build.  Gives a great matte dark grey finish.  Still a long way from trying any San Mai, though that is one of the first things on my bucket list once I get the hang of this forging stuff.

Keep the inspiration coming.
Matt Toms