I've never tried welding 5160 but my understanding is that it doesn't play well with others. I'm not saying it's not possible, maybe just not advisable. Try 1084 and 15n20, they give a nice contrast in color and weld very well.

I use it all the time combined with 1095 and L6. No problem dry welding. Nice to see the 3 distinct colors of the material after etching.

John

Thank you!

My suggestion is Don't! 5160 is one of those steels that does not play well with others. You can get it to "stick" in a damascus billet, but it will be the first one to cause issues. I learned this the hard way when I failed my first MS performance test. I was cocky and against everyone's advice, I decided I would make my test blade of 52100 and 5160. The test blade made it through everything until we got to the bending portion of the test......and then the knife broke. It was very evident that the 5160 was the culprit.

Another negative example is that at one time I made a lot of "wrapped" tomahawks from 5160. Many of those,especially the ones that were thrown, started coming apart at the weld seam.

There's a very good reason that most of us who make a lot of damascus use 1080/1084 and 15N20.....it's about the most "compatible" mix that's currently available. Save yourself a lot of future grief...avoid using 5160 in your damascus mix.

Ed,

I wonder where the point of diminishing failures is using 5160 as the billet get welded multiple times and becomes more and more homogenous.I can see possible failure in a low layer count, but probably much less likely in a higher count billet.

John