Damascus, what is the stuff?

dylan_d

dylan_d

Joined
Dec 30, 2002
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What is Damascus? How is it made? How is it's edge holding ability? And does it make a good work knife/EDC? Thanks.
 
damascus is fancy steel, its very expensive, and the technique might not be too hard to make, but its repetitive, and takes a lot of time, you will get an answer much faster in shop talk, i dont think its good for a working knife, more of a show blade
 
Made by the right maker using the right steels, damascus steel can easily hold it's own against anything out there in a tough using knife.

Some makers to consider.
Ray Kirk,
Don Fogg,
Harold Clark,
Mike Williams,
John Fitch
and there are many, many others.

At a recent (2002) cutting competition a damascus knife made by Ray Kirk won.

The is damascus made for show and there is damascus made to perform so it is hard to paint it's characteristics with a broad brush. Just as it is hard to do with people :).
 
The short answer is damascus or more properly pattern welded steel is two or more different types of steel (with the exception of cable damascus) heated and hammered or pressed together. Whether it is good for edc and its edge holding depend on what exactly it is made of and the heat treatment. Some are very intricate patterns or designs and pretty much just for show and some are meant for use.

Todd
 
Aaron, have you ever tried san-mai damascus with a 440V core or Damasteel?

Because the maker needs to be especially careful when welding the layers together, good damascus isn't easy to make. The differences in the composition of different metals also requires a great deal of knowledge and care in both the fabrication and heat treatment of damascus.

In today's world of hi-tech blade steels, it's easy to overlook why the development of damascus was so important when it was first discovered. It was developed primarily for improvements in performance, not aesthetics.
 
There's a lot of different kinds of Damascus steel made different ways. Classic Damascus steel is made by taking two more more sheets of different kinds of steel and then folding them together. The resulting sandwich is then heated and hammered to fuse the layers together. This is then folded, heated, hammered, etc., again and again and again until there are dozens or sometimes a hundred or more layers. When the blade is finished, it's etched with a weak acid. The acid reacts differently with the different steels in the different layers giving a wavy pattern visible on the surface.

But, it's important to realize that the patter is not just a surface finish. The pattern is in and part of the metal. Recently, it's common to see knives that appear to be Damascus but are not. The pattern is essentially just painted onto the surface. In actuality, it's achieved by etching using a masking process to cover some areas and not others. The point is that the patterning on such knives is, in fact, just skin deep.

This one, however, is quite real.


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Well as a maker of damascus and a knife Maker/user i will say in my opinion it is great steel, Basicly think of it as Plywood , a simple piece of wood is semi flexable and strong but if you put say 100 thin pieces together they become "Super Strong" , Some maker's just make damascus for show while other's make it for use as other's have said .if you want a true one of a kind damascus Knife is the way to go since no 2 maker's will come up with the exact same pattern , sometimes the maker has to fight to get the same pattern more than once . it is carbon steel most of the time so it get's very sharp and hold's a edge well , with a little care it will last forever.


Just my 2 cent's

http://www.pinoyknife.com:D
 
I heard that you shouldn't chop with Damascus blades. Other than that, well-made damascus can be just as practical as regular quality steels (probably not as good as the best high-end steels though).
 
aaron:

I apologize if I came off as a know-it-all. We all have to start learning somewhere. ;)

Saying that Damascus is all good or all bad (or all for show or all for performance) is like saying all cuts of one type of wood is better than all cuts of another.

While the arguments between woods have more to do with mother nature (there are many variants of walnut for instance, and not every piece of French walnut is better than every piece of American Black walnut), the "worth" of damascus depends on a lot of variables. These include, but are not limited to, the base materials used, the technique in fabricating the raw material, the technique used in heat treatment, and the skill of the craftsman.

Like "walnut", someone can start out with a superior billet of damascus and end up with a less than desirable product.

We are fortunate in that we now have available a wide variety of damascus blade steels available - ranging from basic carbon tool steels welded together with sweat, hammer, and anvil to high-performance san-mai patterns, to billets that incoporate powdered metallurgy and vacuum melt technology.

While it is true that, to the casual observer, (aesthetically) the beauty of damascus might only be skin deep, the true beauty lies within its unique construction and celebrated history. We should also keep in mind that outstanding beauty and performace are consistantly being achieved by the hands of many of today's skilled makers.
 
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