> Can you forge metals in a highly controlled and directed magnetic field where you can orient the grain/alignment of atoms/fields in whatever direction you want.

This is how you make magnets. "Soft" ferromagnets have small, round grains that rotate to reinforce outside fields. "Hard" ferromagnets have permanent fields of their own and long grains that can't reorient.

Forging with a field has a very low impact on the material properties because of how weak a magnetic field is compared to the forces moving atoms- same reason steel loses its magnetic properties when it gets hot.

> what happens when you make damascus from varying plated that have particular alignments/grains

"Damascene" is the layered look most often made from acid etching sandwiched and forge-welded layers of different steels. Damascus is a single alloy for which the pattern is named.

Since in both cases the material is melted together, it's far too hot for any magnetic properties to have any impact.

Thanks for that.

Though I was thinking of super intense magnetic fields (like in CERN), however, Ill leave it to my Comic Book Science collection, then :-)

Electromagnetic stirring is used in continuous casting for grain refinement. It’s also used sometimes in welding.

I wonder what would happen to a material properties if you combined this with friction stir welding.