Forging a GOMAI Knife - Part 1: Forge Welding the GOMAI Billet

In this 2 part episode I will be showing the process of forging a GOMAI knife. Part 1 shows me forge welding the billet that will be used to make the blade. GOMAI is a form of pattern welded steel, commonly referred to as damascus. In GOMAI there are 5 layers of steel forge welded together to make one homogeneous piece of steel. The alternating layers of various types of steel is what provides the pattern in the final blade. In this project I used a core steel of 1095, jacketed with 15n20, and then 1095 again to make up my 5 layers. The 15n20 has a higher nickel content so it will contrast the 1095 to give me the pattern I am after. After meticulously cleaning my pieces of steel to 120 grit and washing them with acetone, I stacked them and tac welded them together just off camera. I then need to let the billet soak in the forge until the entirety of the billet is up to forge welding temperature (around 2300* F). I take a couple very gentle passes on the press just to set the weld. You can do this by hand hammer as well. The key in the first few passes is to have high heat and gently work the billet to set the welds before you go crazy. Once I am certain the welds took and the billet is solid, I then get a little more aggressive and begin drawing the billet out. After drawing it out, I do another pass on the flat dies to get everything flat and the same thickness. Once I have the billet drawn out to the length and thickness I want, I let it air cool to room temp. DO NO QUENCH IT TO COOL IT! Quenching high carbon steel hardens it and places stress on the material and we still need to forge the knife, so instead we let it air cool. I then cut the ends of the billet off as sacrificial steel to avoid cold shuts or inclusions in the billet that can occur from any inconsistencies in the ends of the billet overlapping each other. I can also then look at the core and make sure it looks like one solid homogeneous piece of steel. Stay tuned for part , the actual forging of the knife.