Damascus for survival / EDC knives

[magoula]

Just curious, for those of you who have the wealth of knowledge and can draw from hands-on experience, how well does Damascus hold up for the every day abuse of an EDC and the potential needs in a survival situation? I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the different metals used for all of the popular knives out there, but I see Damascus more often in "collection"-looking knives than I do knives made for use.

Looking for videos on youtube showing some rigorous testing of Damascus has led me to very few examples showing the beating it can take and how well the edge keeps. I *love* the way it looks, but I'd be less tempted to put money into knives made from Damascus if they'll serve no other purpose than to look pretty compared to less expensive and stronger knives made of other steel.

Thanks in advance!

 

[leachknives]

Just curious, for those of you who have the wealth of knowledge and can draw from hands-on experience, how well does Damascus hold up for the every day abuse of an EDC and the potential needs in a survival situation? I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the different metals used for all of the popular knives out there, but I see Damascus more often in "collection"-looking knives than I do knives made for use.

Looking for videos on youtube showing some rigorous testing of Damascus has led me to very few examples showing the beating it can take and how well the edge keeps. I *love* the way it looks, but I'd be less tempted to put money into knives made from Damascus if they'll serve no other purpose than to look pretty compared to less expensive and stronger knives made of other steel.

Thanks in advance!

That is an excelent question that I have been wondering about as well. Lets hope there are some good responses from guys who really know.

 

[Misanthropia]

"Damascus" is a catch-all term that describes the process that is used to make the steel. The actual steel that is used to make it can vary wildly, which means your question is pretty much impossible to answer. A lot of "damascus" is garbage steel that people try to pass off as good to the uninformed. You're going to have to specify whose damascus is it before anyone can comment.

 

[Bastid]

Misanthropia seems to have nailed it. From the forge of a maker who knows what he is doing and in skilled hads, a damascus or pattern welded blade will perform with anything I have seen evidenced from the cutting competitions which are oftentimes more so than not won by damascus blades. So key is who made it.

 

[magoula]

That seems like a reasonable response. I wasn't as concerned with the actual type of steels used (I can always research the steel types), but more if the actual forging process to get the look resulted in a weaker knife compared to other processes. But it seems, like any other blade, that it has more to do with the steel choices than anything Looks like I'm off to research 1095 and 15N20!! and 1084 and WS1...and all the other combinations I'm seeing, haha.