Damascus Blade Question

I messaged the seller asking how he can sell knives that cheap, saying that the material costs are as high as the selling point. I also asked what his welding methods were (which he ignored). This was his reply, take it for what you will: " i am from wazirabad (knife making industry) and also i sell my knive on nominal profit possibly that's whay my cost is so low."
 
I've seen a lot of ads for damascus blades from Pakistan, and they are always about 10% of the cost of those made in the US (or less). I saw one close up once and once you have it in your hand you can see how little attention is paid to detail. It might photograph well enough to sell, if you avoid certain angles... but I wouldn't have trusted it to open letters.

I'm not saying the blade the OP had made was the same. I'm only speaking of the ones I've seen.
 
Wow,

I can see it now...People whipping out their $80 Damascus blades at a knife show and claiming it is every bit as good as the $1500 Damascus blade on the table.

Somebody is going to get stabbed :)
 
I can say I bought one from an ebay seller last year that turned out quite nicely.. but he has since stopped selling on Ebay. It could very well be crud, and I would not put it against quality made stuff, but it works not bad. Probably the exception to the rule, or my standards at the time were just lower.
 
I used to sell Sterling Silver jewelry for a living and you can buy finished sterling jewelry from places like India for less than bullion sterling silver goes for here. It was hard to compete with them when you are making your own and your starting cost is five times higher than the import finished cost.

As far as the Damascus goes, who knows? On the jewelry the quality control is horrible I know that, I saw some funny stuff.
 
I dont know I got the knife today it looks flawless , the knife is 100 % one piece from handle to blade. I do know he orders his Damascus Bars then grinds his knives, so the ebay seller does not do any welding which may be the reason why he did not answer mgysgthath. My thinking is his supply and demand of Damascus is very differnt in Pakistan which reduces prices. Furthermore, I do know many Paskistan seller do sell junk (crap Damasus ) but you cannot say that about all venders there. If anyone here lives in the Long Island area I would be more then willing to show you this knife. The thing weights more then 10 pounds with not one blemish in the Damascus. I will be putting the knife through a 5 point hardness tests so I can be more objective about its quality. Anyway thanks for all the feedback this Form really does have a great community of people.
 
ib2v4u said:
EXPLOSIVES DAMASCUS KNIFE MAKING

Don't get any better than that. Would make a great WIP

Only need a sexy lady to light the fuse to make it perfect
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its acctrully much cheaper and more effective way of making multi layered steel. and you don't need to worry about oxidation during welding.

in Shandong and Shanxi porvince you can find plenty of factories does this for you. usually has a minium order of 3 tons. try this number, 86 0917 3380538. better have someone who read and speak chinese do it for you. or you can find other contact info yourself, so many out there on internet.
 
I have dealt with a maker in Wazirabad, and it may be the same person. He has a steel making factory, and all he does is make damascus and grind blades. He is willing to make blades to your template very inexpensively. A sword with at least $300 worth (USA price) of twist damascus will cost only about $100.....finished, including fileworked spine. Shipping is fast,too.
After some back and forth, he made two sword blades and four knife blades for me for $300USD including shipping. The hollow grinds were flawless, and the steel seems just fine. There were no bad welds, and the edges seem hard enough. I'll be honest - They looked exactly like the blades offered by Alabama Damascus. I know Brad and Lacy at Alabama, and their steel and blades are good, so I can't knock the Pakistani guy for making similar blades.
Does he really use 1095 and 15N20, I couldn't tell you, because I don't know. Is it a good deal for the price, definitely yes.

We have talked about a large order of knife blanks for knife making kits. I still am on the fence about the kits, because I don't have time enough to do everything right now. I believe that after the new shop gets built, I may make a 100 blade order and see how a batch of kits does. I'll keep you guys posted about his steel.
 
Anyone wanting pictures of the knife just post your email. Perhaps someone else can find its weaknesses but I cant. My first objective is always to buy American however no knife maker I came across was willing to give me a 14mm thickness blade and a width of 4 inches. I first contacted Gil hibben then I contracted John Fitzen (spelling?) both told me no “to thick” so I started researching someone that would make a knife according to my drawings and size requirements. This Ultimatewarrior guy was willing to do it with no problem. I made the handle 7 inches to chop with 2 hands because of its weight.
 
Well I copped my way through 30 inch oak log for a first round of testing no damage to the blade or edge. Nether has the sharpness been altered. So who knows , this much I can say I moved faster through this then a chain saw
 
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JAMerolle said:
Anyone wanting pictures of the knife just post your email. Perhaps someone else can find its weaknesses but I cant. My first objective is always to buy American however no knife maker I came across was willing to give me a 14mm thickness blade and a width of 4 inches. I first contacted Gil hibben then I contracted John Fitzen (spelling?) both told me no “to thick” so I started researching someone that would make a knife according to my drawings and size requirements. This Ultimatewarrior guy was willing to do it with no problem. I made the handle 7 inches to chop with 2 hands because of its weight.
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oh my good Jesus!!! 14mm thickness and 4 inches wide!?! what a monster! sounds more like an axe than a knife.

please, sent the picture to me. i have to see this monster.

iwalkthehells@hotmail.com
 
Please forward me a photo or 10 :D And some pics of the log, and any further tests.

I have limited experience with blades or steel from Pakistan. Im sure there are a few mills that are making a decent damascus. But I think its the exception to the rule.

sales@hhhcustomknives.com
 
I can post pictures here , can someone tell me how to add post pictures , and yes Jesus is good , I will send pictures can someone else post them here
 
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15N20 & 4340 harness =56 he was not able to get the size (14mm thickness) I wanted in 1095 ,

P.S. Aldo sent me an email saying he could not get me 5160 in that thickness which limits who I can do business with , I dont like thin blades
 
I got the email and that knife is a BEAST! Ill post a pic for ya.
 

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JAMerolle said:
15N20 & 4340 harness =56 he was not able to get the size (14mm thickness) I wanted in 1095
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:) That's the standard raindrop damascus that's all over Ebay. I seriously doubt it's 4340, which is a low carbon aircraft alloy ;)
More likely, he's using scrap steel (Pakistani junkahagane, which is fine).

I forged a little bowie out of one of these raindrop billets from Ebay. It didn't delam, but the color are very subdued compared to real 1095 and 15N20.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220811847924
http://www.ebay.com/itm/260924025940
...
 
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can someone tell me how to post pictures , I do not see an option for thumbnails in go advanced , nether do I see in the ribben above post
 
You are a registered user, and so you get to use a image hosting service. photobucket works well. upload it to there and then copy the code with the image codes.
 
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