IMO, you are creating problems for yourself by choosing to use wrought iron.  The welding temps for wrought are MUCH higher versus 80CRV2, which means to put it in layman's terms.... you're going to cook the 80CRV2 by the time you get the wrought iron welded to it.   The two steels are really just not very "compatible".... I use that term to describe not only the widely different welding temps, but also how differently they expand/contract when heated/cooled.  

  There's also the fact that all too commonly/often, wrought iron displays voids/cracks/or other imperfections, even if the welds are good.  Typically is you want Wrought to appear smooth and clean in a finished produce, you have to forge and fold/forge weld the wrought a few times.   Choosing wrought for kitchen knife applications is honestly just opening the door for many problems, from making, to using, to maintaining. 

  Unless you're well versed in forging and forging welding different steels, and the quirks they present, I would encourage you to stick with simple steels.... in this case a basic choice/suggestion would be 1080/1084 for the core(s), and 15N20 for the laminates, or even vice-versa.   

  These materials will weld far easier and better, and since you are looking to make 1/8" stock, this combination will allow you to draw the material down without issues, where as trying to draw/thin down a mix of 80CRV2/Wrought will usually results in delaminations, cracks, etc.  simply because those two materials have vastly different in their expansion/contraction rates. 

  Were it me, I would start with a core of 1/8" 1080 or 1084, and laminated .050-.070" thick 15N20.  The reason is the nickel content in 15N20 makes it compression resistant. Meaning that the 1080/1084 will thin out more than the 15N20 under the same amount of hammering/forging.  If you start with equal thicknesses of each, the 15N20 will always be significantly thicker when the forging is done.

  Either way you choose to go, the billet(s) will require good thermal cycling after forging.  And frankly if you insist on using 80CRV2, you're likely not going to get much out of thermal cycling in...which means you will end with a horribly large grain size. 

  In this case, IF you are fairly new to making "San-Mai" steels, I would encourage you to learn with the combo I mentioned.  It will give you much better chances for success. And not give you near the hurdles to overcome that using 80CRV2/Wrought would. 

  Best of luck!           

Hi Ed,

Thank you for the response. This was exactly the information that I was looking for. Your response and time are highly appreciated.