First off, I don't even know if I can generate enough heat to forge weld. Looks like you need yellow, and I was just getting to red/orange in my mini forge.

Anyway, I bought some thin strips of O1 and cold rolled sheet, but when I stopped to think about the hardening process, I realized the cold rolled is useless. Might be fun to learn, but won't even make a blade.

So, I'm thinking that 1095 and O1 might work together, and heat treat as with straight O1. Does that sound reasonable? I'm also going to try to scrounge some railroad spikes for practice (and non-razor creations).