Hand forged San-Mai / Go-Mai knifemaking billet. 80crv2/ 1080+ and nickel. 5x40x360mm.

These are the new pattern billets, very similar to the previous version but with a tighter more intense pattern to the nickel.

These billets are intended to be ground to shape, no need to forge in a pattern like most pre-laminate steel. Perfect for stock removal makers. I like to keep the forge scale on the flats as you can see from the sample pictures but with care to grind symmetrically, it can be removed. They come as forged and slightly oversize, you will need to grind the edge of the billet back to good material.

All our billets are forged in a zero-atmosphere environment to ensure perfect welds. We pride ourselves in well-centred cores, even patterning, and excellent quality steel.

Once ground and etched, the whole piece will be black with a bright nickel line running down the bevels as you can see from the sample pictures. The look can be changed with different polishing and etching processes. Take a look at the ‘using our billets’ page for more information and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

These billets have been annealed and can be drilled with decent hss drills although we’d recommend carbide-tipped drills.

Heat treat info for 80crv2 billets:

Normalize once by heating to 880c and let cool to room temp in air, quench at 850c after a 5-10 minute hold at temp in parks 50 equivalent oil. Temper for 2 x 2-hour cycles at 200c for approximately 61 HRC.

This steel has good toughness and should be durable even at this hardness. Please note these instructions are just guidelines. We recommend testing your finished products to ensure the best results are achieved.