Tim92 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Can anyone explain what San Mai is? What makes it different from damascus steel? I've been seeing alot of knifes made out of it and can't figure it out. Knife Prayer by Morris Herring "Heavenly Father, Thank you for my Knife Family. Help me, that they would see Jesus in me. Forge me into a caring person that would be a good witness. Sharpen me, to cut all sin from my life. Guard me, from saying the wrong thing, that I might not offend or hurt someone's feelings and lose my witness to them. Father, let me be able to Handle all trials and tribulations that come my way. Finally, Father, let me help Sheathe lost souls into your Fold. Father, let me use my craft to be a witness and to point the way that the unsaved might follow our Glorious Jesus. Amen." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidM Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 San mai is japanese roughly meaning "three parts". The basic idea is to make a blade with a hard edge material, and soft body or core construction. Probably came about as a way to conserve material. I'm not at home so I don't have all my reading material with me, but I'm sure someone here can elaborate for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Bower Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 (edited) It's a construction technique, not a type of material. It's similar to pattern welding only in the sense that there's forge welding involved, and the idea is to make a better blade at the end of it. (Modern pattern welding is really more about aesthetics than improving the steel, so the two techniques probably aren't even comparable in that way nowadays.) But in san mai there are only three layers (instead of dozens-hundreds), there's no folding or twisting, no patterning, etc. San mai doesn't really serve an aesthetic function, as far as I know. Here's a pretty decent visual: Cold Steel san mai image and discussion Edited January 7, 2010 by Matt Bower 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cylvre Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 (edited) I'm sure others will be able to explain this better than I but I'll take a stab at it. San Mai, also called laminated steel, is a way of utilizing the strengths of both hard carbon steel (hardness, keen edge,) with mild steel (toughness, shock and shatter resistance.) In San Mai construction you forge a blank with a high carbon middle layer sandwiched between two mild steel outer layers, then when you remove material along the edge of the blade during sharpening you will expose the high carbon inner layer which will take a finer edge but still have the durability of the mild steel 'jacket.' It's a similar idea to setting a file into the head of an axe or tomahawk, if you make the entire head out of a very hard steel you'd have a much higher chance of it cracking or breaking under the abuse and using all mild wouldn't have as fine of an edge so you combine the two for a better final product. Edited January 7, 2010 by Cylvre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEzell Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Just to add to what has been said, one does not have to use a non-hardenable steel for the sides. I have been most impressed with the durability of 1095 sandwiched between 1060, through hardened. Theoretically, when the 1095 is tempered back to a good cutting hardness, the 1060 sides become spring-tempered, making for one heck of a tough blade. George Ezell, bladesmith" How much useful knowledge is lost by the scattered forms in which it is ushered to the world! How many solitary students spend half their lives in making discoveries which had been perfected a century before their time, for want of a condensed exhibition of what is known."Buffonview some of my work RelicForge on facebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim92 Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 Oh okay! That explains alot! In pictures it looked like a type of damascus, but yet it was called san mai. Anyway, thank you for explaining it to me! -Tim Knife Prayer by Morris Herring "Heavenly Father, Thank you for my Knife Family. Help me, that they would see Jesus in me. Forge me into a caring person that would be a good witness. Sharpen me, to cut all sin from my life. Guard me, from saying the wrong thing, that I might not offend or hurt someone's feelings and lose my witness to them. Father, let me be able to Handle all trials and tribulations that come my way. Finally, Father, let me help Sheathe lost souls into your Fold. Father, let me use my craft to be a witness and to point the way that the unsaved might follow our Glorious Jesus. Amen." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now