Damascus blade steel on Chris Reeve sebenza

A

Ayden Neufeld

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Nov 21, 2015
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Hey everyone, so the regular steel for Chris reeve knives is s35vn i believe. But i was wondering if anyone knew what kind of steel they use for the damascus blades?
 
Ayden Neufeld said:
Hey everyone, so the regular steel for Chris reeve knives is s35vn i believe. But i was wondering if anyone knew what kind of steel they use for the damascus blades?
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AEB - L and 304. A guess looking at Devin Thomas' website. If CRK is still using DT Stainless.
 
A Swedish carbon steel 19C5VA, or American tool steel O1 are used in combination with nickel for high contrast or 15N20 for double high carbon performance. Swedish stainless steels AEB-L or 19C27 are used with austenitic stainless 302 or 304 for high contrast, or used with ATS-34 for double high carbon stainless. Some special combinations are offered such as D2/154CM or 3V/154CM. For our custom knives we often offer san-mai where there is a solid core steel that does the cutting with a jacket of damascus or other steel.
From Devin Thomas' website.
 
Regardless of the names and alloys, many are interested in the performance as compared to the S35Vn. I can tell you from my experiences that it is surprisingly durable but fairly different from S35Vn. For those that prefer to have a blade with that "fresh off the hones" sharpness, the DT should be the choice. For those that prefer a blade to lose its crispness quickly, but stabilizes to a "working sharp" and stays there a long time, select S35Vn.

Not sure if you wanted that info, but you got it;)

As a guy that enjoys sharpening about once a month (and a very sharp blade), I prefer the DT Damascus.
 
unit said:
Regardless of the names and alloys, many are interested in the performance as compared to the S35Vn. I can tell you from my experiences that it is surprisingly durable but fairly different from S35Vn. For those that prefer to have a blade with that "fresh off the hones" sharpness, the DT should be the choice. For those that prefer a blade to lose its crispness quickly, but stabilizes to a "working sharp" and stays there a long time, select S35Vn.

Not sure if you wanted that info, but you got it;)

As a guy that enjoys sharpening about once a month (and a very sharp blade), I prefer the DT Damascus.
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This has been my experience, also, and, as such, I strongly prefer the DT Damascus. I find it to be easier to sharpen on a ceramic pocket stone, and it seems to take on a very crisp edge quickly. For my uses, it works better than anything else I've used.
 
Did DT change up his steel recently? I thought that was the reason for the drastic change in the patterns, especially the raindrop.
 
Lone_Wolfe said:
Did DT change up his steel recently? I thought that was the reason for the drastic change in the patterns, especially the raindrop.
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When I researched prior to purchasing my DT Sebenza in Basketweave, I still came up with the AEB-L blend. I'll be curious to see if anyone else has further info on this.
 
tchapman414 said:
When I researched prior to purchasing my DT Sebenza in Basketweave, I still came up with the AEB-L blend. I'll be curious to see if anyone else has further info on this.
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Here's what Angela said to me that made me think that,
We are working with Devon to tighten up the raindrop pattern but I don't know how long it will take him to get the pattern back to that tight formation. We had to change the specifications of the steel he forges and that has affected the pattern. He is experimenting to get us back but I don't know how long that process will take and when we will have that tighter pattern available.
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She says "specifications of steel", I really don't know what she means there. Maybe one of our steel experts can chime in.
 
I have always likened the performance of DT SS Damascus to that of S30V steel, which continues to be my favorite CRK blade steel. I did a thread comparing all the CRK blade steels and that info is still relevant. Will have to look it up.
 
I think when you are dealing with patterns that tight, source/grade of the same product starts to matter. Ever bought lumber? All red oak is NOT equal. I can only speculate that steel supply variances really frustrate makers at the top of their game.

Performance wise, I doubt the variance matters much, but for aesthetics, I am sure they need silly tolerances like the rest of the knife.
 
I got MT Damascus' permission to post this here that he sent to me...

MT Damascus said:
Hello,

I talked with Devin a few years ago at the Seattle show about the loose patterns, especially the basketweave, he said CRK staring ordering wider bars, and that he was not thrilled with it. So I guess he has talked them back to regular bars where it is much easier to make a tight pattern.

Best Regards
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Interesting bit of info. :thumbup:
 
We started making wider bars a few years ago at Chris' request. These are roll patterned instead of pressed and it seems that it streches out the pattern slightly. We have added more layers and will have a new patterning roll made. The roll dies are around $6000.00 to have made so it's hard to absorb the cost.

Some people like the more organic look of the wider pattern. Those who like structure like the old pattern.

We still use AEB-L and 302/304 mix at ~92% aeb-l and 8% 302/304.
 
Hello, and thanks for chiming in!

I find I like both patterns, wouldn't want to have to choose just one. :)
 
Wow! Straight info from the man himself... that's fantastic. Thank you, Mr. Thomas.

Ever since I bought my first DT Damascus CRK, I seem to want only Damascus CRK's.:)
 
Just ordered mine damascus raindrop sebenza and I hope it will be with tight pattern.
 
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