Question about damascus

From what Ive read the damascus steel making process dates back more

more that 2000 years ago.It started in Damascu in Syria...thats why its

called damascus.

The process is quite time consuming and labor intensive....It starts with 3

layers of steel heated together to 2000 degrees,welded at 1850 degrees,

hammered into shape,folded over to form 6 layers and that process is

repeated over and over until about 300 layers of steel are formed...several

more process are done to make the finished blade which can take at least 18

hours to 24 or more hours.

Ive got 2 Bokers 300 layer damascus knives(Id like to sell)which were made

in Germany and sent to the US to finish and be made into a knife.The info

on the Boker damascus knives says that the rc is 63-65.See the KC site for

more info.
 
Most "Damascus" steel being sold to the public today is being sold as Damascus steel purely for marketing reasons. The term Damascus steel is actually a misomer, the correct term is Damascened steel, or made to look like Damascus.

But the word has been accepted in to the common lexicon so for now on, any steel with visible layers of alternate dark and light bands of color will be known by "Damascus", I'll simply call it DS.

This is not to say that all DS is crap, it's that there's such a wide variety of it being sold as DS, the term has lost all meaning. There are a lot of kitchen knives being sold with a core of VG-10 and surrounded by layers of other softer steel which is being called DS.

There is one benefit of this. The cladding gives the flat surface of the blade kind of a satin-like finish, allowing the blade to slip through food material without sticking.

Other than that, I'd say let the buyer beware. The term has been overused to the point of meaninglessness. Don't let the "D" word convince you you're getting more than you're paying for.
 
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Ben Dover said:
Yes my name really is Benjamin Julius Dover. My mother's maiden name was Rachel Benjamin, and I was named after my maternal grandfather, Julius Benjamin. :)

I don't really know why the Japanese use the "clad" core method rather than the pure folded method, or if perhaps you're correct that they use laminates to maintain the "Katana" mystique. :confused:

I've found this subject intriguing, so I spoke with a colleague over in metallurgy. He's had the opportunity to examine and test several fragments of sword blades unearthed in Turkey, Syria, and Spain.

He confirmed what I had previously read concerning the mixture of pure iron and steel, and the folding process resulting in an even number of layers for the metals.

Therefore, I suppose it would be somewhat of a misnomer to refer to today's laminated steels as "Damascus" since the laminates are both steel, and there is no pure iron in the mixture, although this reference seems to be a fairly common practice in Japan.

At any rate, it's quite a fascinating subject to study, and I hope to have the time to do more research on it in the future. :p
Click to expand...

Reading back at my own post I think I worded my last sentence badly (looked like I was being sarcastic!). Looked like I was taking the piss at you which I wasn't going to :) Should have sounded like "is that your name and if its so then hope you are not offended" not "I'm sorry it's your real name"! Funny how lack of sleep makes one blunder in interesting ways :p

Yup, mystique marketing is perhaps one of the main reason. Couldn't they just San Mai the blade and save on the time and money instead of cladding it in damascus. Perhaps aesthetics as well. I really don't feel my damascus clad kitchen knife (Gyuto large kitchen knife) cuts any better than my San Mai version.

However I'm unsure perhaps there is the benefit of the 'forging effect' cause of wrapping the core in Damascus. Basically I mean the hammering you see.

If you are doing a study then it'll be nice to include Wootz into the picture. There is a custom knifemaker who sells his blades in the custom knifemakers for sale section and his blades are wootz steel.

Good luck. :thumbup:
 
Almost all modern steels are forged when manufactured, there are only a few knives that are cast. There really isn't much of a 'forging effect' these days because of much, much better manufacturing standards and practices. Thermal cycling is still what gets the steel to do what it does, but a piece of barstock doesn't need to be folded and kneaded to be cleaned up structurally.
 
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