So I've had the damascus Sebenza for a few days now and it's been my main EDC blade. After using it for various tasks everyday for the past few days I'm ready to give a bit of a preliminary opinion.
Initial thoughts:
When I took the knife out of the box, the blade was shaving sharp. Needless to say, I was impressed with both the beauty of the steel as well as its ability to take on such a nice edge. Fondling the blade, it's very nice to feel the unique texture of the steel; the layers of the damascus give an interesting consistency. Very pleasant to the touch.
Putting it to use:
Over the course of the last few days I've used the knife as my main EDC blade. This being my first damascus knife and being one of my more expensive knives, I was admittedly reluctant to use it at first. When I finally convinced myself to put the knife through its paces, I was pleasantly surprised. I've used it to do everything from opening letters to breaking down boxes. It was even used for food prep a few times. Even after cutting up 6 medium sized boxes made of corrugated cardboard, the edge was still more than satisfactory, albeit no longer shaving sharp. I've since touched up the edge on a strop and the edge came right back.
When used for some food prep at lunch, it sliced very cleanly through bread, lettuce, tomato, mustard and corned beef (yum!). A little rinsing and a good wipe later, it was back in my pocket. When I got home, I broke down the knife for cleaning and inspected the blade for corrosion; not so much as a patina. Some grease in the pivot, oil on the blade and the knife was back together, ready for action.
Additional thoughts and observations:
On the whole, I've got to side with what you said, nyef. Not only is the steel a near perfect balance between edge retention and ease of sharpening, it really does not scratch easily. Compared with the S30V Sebenza (which was my main EDC prior to the damascus Sebenza), the damascus steel seemed to be more resistant to scratches and blemishes. On the S30V steel, while the stone wash/tumbled finish does mask the scratches, there are definitely various wear marks on the side of the blade from cutting certain materials such as cardboard. The damascus, on the other hand, shows absolute no marks or scratches.
If I must say something negative about the damascus, it would be the texture of the steel. While it is very beautiful and I wouldn't change it in anyway, I find that there is slightly more resistance when slicing through some materials. When compared in cutting cardboard, I've noticed that the damascus blade would sometimes catch in the cardboard and would require some sawing in order to continue cutting while the S30V blade would just glide through 100% of the time without any problem. I'm guessing that the damascus steel has a higher friction coefficient than the stone washed S30V. This is also apparent when comparing the jimping. To the naked eye, the jimping on the S30V Sebenza and the damascus Sebenza seem almost identical. However I found when applying pressure with my thumb towards the tip of the blade, my thumb would slide very easily over the S30V jimping, yet on the damascus jimping, my thumb locked right in and I could not slide it forward at all.
That's just my initial impressions of the Devin Thomas Damascus Sebenza. As I've said, I've only had it for a few days and it's been a very positive experience so far. Do I prefer it over the S30V? Only time will tell...
