For hamons it's tough to beat Aldo's (Newjesrseysteelbaron.com) W-2. His 1075 is very good too. Really the manganese is what you want to be looking at, and keeping it as low as possible.

As far as mechanical reduction I wouldn't worry about it, any bar stock has already been forged down either by cold or hot rolling. I think the discussion of forging vs stock removal and if it has any effects on performance has been had many times and I don't wish to enter it. I will say that regardless of how you get the steel to the shape of a knife your heat treat is what's going to make the difference. A properly treated stock removal blade will always out perform an improperly heat treated forged blade and vise versa.

I would suggest picking a steel and sticking with it till have learned to get the most out of it. If you wish to do hamons I would start with W-2 (1075 if he's out of W-2), it's fantastic for hamons and great for cutting too.

To follow up on Justin's post. Aldo's W2 has vanadium in the mix for grain reduction. This steel produces good hamons. A steel that is shallow hardening and low in manganese seems to produce the best hamon. 1065, 1075, 1095, etc. W2 from Aldo is basically 1095 with vanadium added. Aldo's 1084 has to much manganese, but is an excellent steel. Look at actual tamahagane that is used in Japanese swords. Pretty much a simple steel, just iron and carbon with some trace elements. It is forged and reduced at much above critical temp, then thermal cycled to reduce grain. So, you can forge above critical, but do good thermal cycling procedures to reduce grain size. Very fine grain and hamons can go together, but make sure you choose the right steel. 52100 is a good steel, just not for hamons.

I do completely agree with Justin, pick one steel and learn it forwards and backwards. Then you can expand you steel selection.

Brion

We have far more opportunities to ruin a perfectly good piece of steel by forging it than you do to 'improve' it.

To be simplistic - "Forge definition, to form by heating and hammering; beat into shape."

When forging, we're simply taking the opportunity to create our blade shape and take better advantage of our available material. Rather than "cutting away everything that doesn't look like a knife" we're using the material to create the knife with less loss of material.

Then it all becomes about about the heat treating process.

Even in Fowler's examples, great attention is paid to his control of time and temp during and following the forging process. 52100 can be a very fickle companion in the forge and his process helps to zero it in for use as a good knife rather than a bearing. In that sense, his process does "improve" it. With a loose definition of the word "improve".

In most cases, however, particular attention is paid to post forging steps to RETURN the steel to its original condition and set it up for austenizing, hardening and tempering. (With 52100, one would not want to return it to its condition of a bearing.)

All of those steps fall under the category - heat treating.

In the words of my mentor Jerry Rados - "Jesus Christ can send a bar of steel down from Heaven. It will only be as good as the heat treatment it gets on Earth."

As far as improving by reduction, when we forge down a flat bar from a large 2" round of W2 we end up with a flat bar of W2.

Wiley: First I want to say welcome to the ABS and the forum.

When I first read your post, I said "OMG not again", so I am not getting into the benefits of forging discussion.

However, I am happy to discuss different bar stock and where to get them. I am wondering why you choose to use 2 inch stock for forging. I have been using 1 or 1-1/4 inch round bar for years and never have I found myself thinking I needed to start with anything bigger. I will agree with previous posts that Aldo (NJ Steel Baron) does sell excellent product, but I do not purchase most of my steel from him simply because the shipping rates from NJ to AZ make it financially impractical. I purchase O-1 and 1084 in round bars through ENCO or MSC online. Good and consistent quality drilling rods at a reasonable price, and the shipping is far less from Nevada to Arizona. Other good sources for blade steels include Jantz Supply and Texas Knife, although neither of these sell round bars. Usually I will purchase the 1/4 inch thick by 2 inch bar and forge to shape. Where you buy your steel may have as much to do with where you are located, as it does with what you want to buy. A quick Google search for "knife making steel supply" or "tool steel suppliers" will yield you quite a few options.

Also, on the subject of sanding mediums to bring out the Hamon, I watched Mike Q use a powdered abrasive in a variety of grits (800-1500) on a piece of denim against rubber backed steel. He swore it was the best hand sanding medium for Hamon development. Judge the tree by the fruit it bears they say, and his Hamon work is fantastic.