fake damascus

[100k]

You all are fantastic!!! I really learn a lot.
I appreciate all you taught.
Merry X'mas and God bless you all.
Eric

 

[mqqn]

Hi squirrel -

I have bought 3 of the "ebay damascus" knives - I gave one away for Christmas, and probably will gift another away.

They all three were from a potentially fictional cutlery shop, Richmond Cutlery UK - I suspect (and don't really care for that matter) that my purchases were really just shipped to London from Pakistan or India etc.

They do apprear to my eye to be authentic forge-welded steel though -

Here are a few pictures of one I picked up for $25 or so -

Fit and finish is not fantastic, but at the same time it is not bad either - particularly for the price.

I have not attempted to sharpen the one in the picture, but it has a decent paper-cutting edge on it as it was delivered.

best regards -

mqqn

 

[gblade1]

:thumbup:This is a good topic.

I've thought about buying these two,but was kinda turned off by how inexpensive they were.The old "to good to be true" deal.

The Browning is around $30 & the Puma's around $40.

What do you think?Think they're junk?

I bought the one on the right. I don't believe its real. The "layers" feel actually textured as if they are carved or printed onto the blade. Any real damascus I have is perfectly flat and smooth. So, Im very suspicious but dont claim I have proof. Maybe I will take a dremel to it

 

[misque]

I bought the one on the right. I don't believe its real. The "layers" feel actually textured as if they are carved or printed onto the blade. Any real damascus I have is perfectly flat and smooth. So, Im very suspicious but dont claim I have proof. Maybe I will take a dremel to it

Damascus will have that texture if deeply etched. The steel with less alloying elements will wear away slightly faster. The higher alloyed steel will feel like it's raised and give you that texture your feeling because the etchant solution is not wearing it away as fast.
You still have patterned welded steel aka "Damascus".
No need for a Dremel. Unless, of course, you want to trash the blade. Your property, your choice.

 

[goodeyesniper]

what knife is that little Wharncliffe?

 

[2brothers]

what knife is that little Wharncliffe?

That is the Kershaw 1615 Centofante.

 

[antonio_luiz]

I bought a Pakistan made Damascus folder knife on June.
I found the edge having a bur and I sharpened it with sharpen stone, but the Damascus pattern near the edge was gone during sharpening process.
I used a coarse sandpaper to grind the blade. the pattern is almost gone....
Should a real Damascus knife have this result by using sandpaper on blade?
Eric

Yes - that's what happens when you attack the surface of a damascus blade with sandpaper. :thumbdn:

The pattern on a damascus blade doesn't get fully revealed until it has been etched (usually by Ferric Chloride) to bring out the contrasting steels. If you have sanded off the etched surface, the damascus pattern will disappear. You can bring out the pattern again by re-etching with Ferric Chloride.

 

[antonio_luiz]

It isn't all that hard to weld steels together to make "Damascus" - any half competent village blacksmith can bash layers of steel together to make some sort of damascus pattern. The difference is that the better quality damascus steel makers pay great attention to steels used, preparation and finally manipulation to achieve the desired quality and pattern. Finally, whether a homogogenous or damascus steel is used, the skills of the knifemaker and heat treatment are what determines the quality of the finished blade.

"A blade made of junk steel properly heat treated will make a far superior blade when compared to steel of know value that is improperly heat treated". Wayne Goddard - BLADE Field Editor - Dec 2009

 

[raydermonk]

I also picked up a couple of the damascus offerings on the-bay recently, and was pretty pleased overall. The price was ridiculously reasonable (+ shipping), and the fit & finish was good-very good. As I see more offerings that pop up with extremely good prices (got a nice fixed blade for $6 + $18 shipping), I'll entertain future purposes. I myself learned a lot from this post!

 

[mqqn]

Hi Folks -

Here are a few pics of another Pakistani Damascus I picked up - a nice folder (non-locking).

best regards-

mqqn

 

[Citizen John]

I got this from Richmond Cutlery who sells on Ebay:
"The steel is from damasteel sweden, and the knife is made in eastern europe.
I think that they are genuine, they certainly are cheap enough considering all of the detail work."
I may try a couple.

 

[nevermind35]

Is there supposed to be a picture?

 

[rhorcada]

I have a Richmon Cutlery damascus, actually I think that is false, oxidizes far, but their sharpness is good and not lost, I'm currently using it in the kitchen, if it was cheap, but it is not damascus, at least I think.

 

[rhorcada]

I foun this: ABOUT RICHMOND CUTLERY UK LTD
Richmond Cutlery UK Ltd was founded on 02 Sep 2008 and has its registered office in Essex. The organisation's status is listed as "Dissolved"and it had one director at the time it closed. It's founding director was Mrs Sarwat Saghir. Richmond Cutlery UK Ltd does not have any child companies.

 

[rhorcada]

Excuse my anxiety for publishing my part, before I should have greeted to forum, so I am grateful that they have accepted my registration and formal greeting, a great pleasure to participate here, best regards.

 

[Dennis98077]

If anyone has questions where the knife you have is real or fake DS. Take a little piece of 500 grit sand paper and work the blade's new the edge. Then after you see it is really shiny and it appears that the DS is almost gone. Take some Muriatic Acid and place it on the blade for a few minutes. The DS look should come back in full force and look real good. Only steel that is layered can show different layers when placed in muriatic acid. This acid is a week etcher but it will do the trick and revile the true DS. Hope this helped. True DS is layered metal, doesn't have to be steel it can be any reposed metal so long at the molecule lay they can combine. Not all metals work with each other, just like people...

 

[Dennis98077]

Nice folds and twist to this DS. Edges appears to need to be anile, just looks like it. Anyway nice knife, fun one to put a little self work into just to finish it off. You can make it a lock back blade if you want. Like the wood and how it is layed out.

 

[piddington]

Pics?

Thoughts?