Damascus steel for EDC???

M

mystro

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Aug 26, 2010
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What kind of steel is it really?? What I am thinking about is the edge performance of a Damascus raindrop Sebenza 21. I plan on really using it so its performance characteristics really do matter to me. I was on Devin Thomas's site and I like what I see but details about the performance of the steel are not clear. Any input would be great??
FYI...My EDC will field dress a deer as well as every day chores.
 
I hope it stands up well. Just put myself on the wait list for Raindrop Damascus for my new Night Sky theme Sebenza.

I've heard good things about Damascus for edc though :thumbup:
 


I use the Bark Ladder Damascus in the photo above as my EDC and it has held up extremely well. I used to carry a Small Micarta S30V Sebenza but it gets very little pocket time now. I will admit that I am somewhat cautious when using it but no less than when I carried the Sebenza.
 
The DT raindrop works well as EDC for my Sm.Sebenza, holds an edge very well, looks unique, all SS so no rust found (nor expected) Barry H did the scale.

Sebe_21_SS_Damascus_CF_1.JPG


Mike B.
 
mystro said:
Your knife looks awesome.
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Thanks, while the knowlegable knife person will know & appreciate it. It in the non-knife people that are always amazed. My aged aunt, and her friend were very interested, and asked so many questions. This damascus has such great figure, I could look at it for hours (well, a long time anyway)

Mike B.
 
I'm curious to try one, as sson I can afford one
maybe a ladder small sebbie or a newer pattern
 
I have a DT raindrop small 21 with ebony. It is my EDC. I cut up some boxes with it just to see how it would do. There were some light scratches left in the blade pattern. Nothing major but it does show some wear. It would probably come out it I re-etch the blade.

The issue I am having with the steel is that it does not want to bite into anything. Maybe I have the edge overly polished for this steel. I normally use ultra fine rods. I tried the fine rods and the issue remained. However, my classic in S30v is sharpened the same way and it bites. So do all of my other knives from Spyder Co (VG10, s30v, CPM m4), and my protech Sprint in s35vn. It shaves very well but getting it to bite into anything fibrous like paper is difficult. The material slides over the edge. When It does get a cut started it slices just fine.

I think the blade performed very well out of the box (iirc) but now it has this quirk. It very well could be something I'm doing when sharpening it on my Sharpmaker. BUT none of my other knives do this. Very frustrating and, for $590, disappointing. I'm confident CRK could put the edge back the way it was but what am I going to do, send it back to them every time I want the edge touched up?

Having said that, it's not like I haven't been able to cut something I wanted to cut. It's just not a top performer for me.

Knife is beautiful. No rust. Holds an edge well. Remains my EDC.

If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or insights I'd love to hear them.
 
IMG_0722.jpg


Close up of the light scratches in the etching
IMG_0099.jpg


I had tried to reprofile the blade to 30 degrees last night to see if that made the edge bite better. It did not. For some reason everything got worse. I spent some time this morning with the fine rods at 40 degrees and it cuts paper much better now. I tend to screw up an edge when I depart from the manufactur's geometry.

However, the medium I often use to judge an edge is a .30 gun patch. I use those with some Break Free to wipe down my edc knives after sharpening. Before I put a knife away, I often run the patch over the edge and how easily it parts gives me some idea of how that edge compares to my other knives on that material. The best steel/edge on that material is my Gayle Bradley Spyderco at 30 degrees with CPM M4. The patch just pops apart if I move the patch over the edge even a fraction of a centimeter. Most knives cut right through before the patch travereses the length of the edge.

On the DT damascus, the patch slides over the length of the edge without cutting at all. It could be that the steel simply doesn't bite into cloth material unless there is some differential wear between the hard AEB-L and the soft 304. Not a big deal, but I'd like my cherished EDC favorite to impress in all respects.

Despite that, I saw a box of paper in the supply room today waiting to be opened. The boxes are secured with plastic bands. I always go out of my way to cut those bands whenever I see the boxes. The DT double stainless damascus cut through it just as well as any of my other knives (Note: the wider GB blade has trouble getting underneath the band, so it never gets a fair shot at cutting those bands. The GB remains the best cutting knife by far I've ever used.)
 
Having reread my post, permit me to clarify that my disappointment is that the knife is not absolutely perfect. There is a reason it remains my primary EDC. That reason is that it is beautiful, is a great design, is strong, cuts well, and I feel represents me well when seen by other "knife guys." I'd buy it again.

Edited to add: I removed most of the burr in the edge and it bites a little better, but not as well as my other knives. Could be that the AEB-L and the 304 are giving me a hard time in getting a burrless edge.
 
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I don't have much in the way of experience with stainless dmascus as I only have one Mnandi that I got not so long ago. I do have much more experience with carbon damascus though and a few of my regularly used fixed blade knives are in damascus. IMO one would be hard pushed to really call much between the likes of S30V over a damascus blade at the end of the day. The blade will perform well and as long as you look after it, perhaps a bit more carefully, it will be just as good a friend as any steel CRK have used for their knives.
 
Ya, I need to retract my statement that the steel doesn't want to bite and that it won't cut those .30 cal patches. I must have had a really bad persistent burr in the edge or something. After about a month of the "issue", it's doing just fine. My bad. Apologies to everyone.

The steel is great.
 
so it's fine then? well good for ya!
fongrats on the knife again! somehow with all these damascus threads...I'm wanting one...
 
Ya, I'm guessing that I did something to the edge because I changed how I sharpened it (and all of my knives) and now it cuts just as well as they do. I'm speculating. In any event, the knife is great.

Also, I'm thinking that the marks on my blade from cutting the boxes are not technically scratches because how could carbdoard be hard enough to sractch stainless steel? Perhaps they are are caused by the cardboard rubbing through the etching. I think that makes more sense.

Carrying a damascus sebbie as an EDC is pretty satisfying.
 
The Savage Rabbit said:
Ya, I'm guessing that I did something to the edge because I changed how I sharpened it (and all of my knives) and now it cuts just as well as they do. I'm speculating. In any event, the knife is great.

Also, I'm thinking that the marks on my blade from cutting the boxes are not technically scratches because how could carbdoard be hard enough to sractch stainless steel? Perhaps they are are caused by the cardboard rubbing through the etching. I think that makes more sense.

Carrying a damascus sebbie as an EDC is pretty satisfying.
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When you bought the knife the blade was coated with GunKote, a very durable baked on finish. Over time this gets marked up a bit and wears off with even more use, then you'll see the dark oxide wear through after that. CRK can re-oxidize and re-coat for you or you can just let wear take it's course.
 
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