Hand Forging a San Mai Bowie Knife

⚔️ Interested in Collin’s work? Request custom builds at: Instagram: @hippoheadforge @thefirstbuild Website: IG: @thefirstbuild () Twitter: @firstbuild () Facebook: @theFirstBuild () Today at FirstBuild, bladesmith Collin Sage hand forges a San-Mai Bowie Knife. San-mai is a traditional Japanese term referring to a three-layer steel construction, sometimes known as a metal sandwich. With this knife, Collin sandwiches high-grade steel between two lighter jacket pieces. He then uses an angle grinder to cut diagonal groves into the billet, resulting in a streaking pattern from the core steel as it shines through the outer jacket.