Is this real damascus?

Do what cerulean said. Look at the spine of the blade carefully. If it's layered you will see very faint lines of demarcation where the steels have been welded together. Judging from your link-pics, it looks like 3 layered steel.

Judging by the price, it looks kinda iffy to me. If it is 3 layered Damascus, congrats on a good buy. Provided, of course, it holds a good edge as well as looking good.
 
thanks to everyone for their wise comments.
At the very least you've managed to establish that this isn't an open and shut case, I'm glad no-one's said "what a moron, of course it's damascus" (or "what a moron, buying that cheap crap when it's obviously not damascus")

I'll let you know what I conclude after I test/examine it over Xmas.

thanks again,
-h.

EDIT:
to anyone thinking of buying a "Fox n Hounds" stag/damascus knife, I'd say go for it even if it turns out not to be 'real' damascus; as I said in the OP, it's still a very nice knife with a good weight etc, so don't be put off.
 
FullerH said:
It may be a pattern welded blade, but it is not a "Damascus" or "Wootz" blade. Wootz is a crucible steel that has a VERY distinctive pattern to it. What is generally called "Damascus" is, in reality, pattern welding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel
http://metalrg.iisc.ernet.in/~wootz/heritage/WOOTZ.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_welding
http://www.vikingsword.com/serpent.html
Click to expand...

Thanks for correcting that grammatical error. Damascus is a word/term that is really being mis-used in the cutlery community(said the guy who does it all the time:o ). Same as the term "San-Mai". Since learning that is merely a Cold Steel marketing name, I wince inwardly every time I see a three layered blade being called "San-Mai". I try not to think of the fact that I've made the same mistake many, many times before.:(
A special Thank you to Vassili for bringing that up.


Mike U.
Livin' and a learnin'
 
I have told this story before, but repeating won't hurt. When I started at American University in September, 1962, I met a fellow, Wayne Allen Roy, who collected swords. He eventually took me over to his home and showed me his collection. One of them was a Middle Eastern sword from the 8th Century CE that had a blue enameled hilt and guard with a true Damascus blade. As a demonstration, he took the hilt in one hand and the tip of the blade in the other and bent it around until they tip of the blade touched the pommel of the sword. He then slowly released the tension and the sword came back to absolute straight. Mind you, this was on a 1200 year old sword! Properly done, true Damascus steel is wonderous stuff. BTW, I tried a few cuts and thrusts with that sword and it was extremely light and quick in the hand.
 
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