There might be many find points behind Damascus and/or laminated steel blades. But there is no particular reason to use either technique except for looks. In any other respect choosing some high performance modern steel is more economical way to achieve higher blade characteristics. That's all in my personal opinion of course.
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damascus, is it all for looks?
- Thread starter sogflash
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Even with conventional steel blades looks and other model attributes count. If they didn't we would all be using the same knife model containing the same type of steel. And the knife would be inexpensive because they would be produced in mass quantities.
Here is a link by my personal hero, Mr. Joe Talmadge, master knife maker, speaking about knife steels. I thought it may be of some value to the thread.
http://zknives.com/knives/articles/knifesteelfaq.shtml
I'll bet 90% of the guys who buy the super steel don't sharpen them to take advantage of their properties.
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Only 90%? Heck--most production knives aren't even designed to take advantage of the properties of super steels.
GatorFlash1...thanks for the tip. I have some Breakfree CLP on the way as we speak. Back in the day we just used a modicum of 30 weight motor oil, even a bit of vaseline worked in a pinch. This new high-tech stuff is probably best though. Of course, it was my fault alone this last time when I used my damascus chopper and neglected to wipe off the blade. I had a hankering for another lager brew and in my haste I allowed the rust to work the magic that plagues all of us carbon steel lovers.
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Glad to see this. I though I was alone in being repulsed by damascus.
The art of making wootz steel has been lost. The fact that blacksmiths are a bit paranoid and don't give out secrets, and the industrial revolution helped end the passing on of how to make wootz steel. What I think is intersting, is that they have found carbon nanotubes on the edges of old wootz.
Only 90%? Heck--most production knives aren't even designed to take advantage of the properties of super steels.
Yeah, I ask companies what they do in supersteel versions to take advantage of them, and they almost always ask "What do you mean?"
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- Jul 18, 2012
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I always thought that layering different steels improved their flexibility, as long as the steels could be heat treated properly together. Similar to how bow and crossbow makers will always layer harder and softer woods together since the softer wood allowed the thinner sections of hard wood to flex more while still providing support, whereas a single piece of hard and soft wood would be more likely to break. Wouldn't this be the same principle if one of the steels were at least slightly softer or harder than the other? I've never been able to afford a laminated steel blade but I'd like to hear another's professional opinion on this, especially since I'm planning on trying out my first laminated steel blade as soon as I get my hands on some 15n20.
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A bit of a late response to this comment, but that's absolutely false. The method of creating wootz was rediscovered over a decade ago through scientific analysis and years of experimentation. Here's an article from 1998 going over the analysis of the steel.