What do you guys think of this Damascus steel on ebay?

A

agoutihead

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May 5, 2007
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Ok I'm looking for a nice piece of Damascus steel to make a ceremonial blade with.

What do you think of the damascus this guy is offering from India?

http://shop.ebay.com/jadaw_mnna2306/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

My only concern is that the damascus doesnt cover the entire tang on some of them - is this normal? I always thought damascus was produced by folding the metal over and over and adding chemicals... so shouldnt the tangs have the exact same look? (some look just like bare metal)

Can this damascus wear off?
 
I'm not a damascus expert, but it seems a lot if the very inexpensive damascus is just textured steel treated with an acid etch or something to darken it and then the high portions of the texture are buffed bright again. That's what this looks like. Real damascus is two different steels folded over many many times. Hopefully someone can weigh in on this, but this stuff looks like "Fauxmascus".
 
It's real damascus.Sometimes tangs are mild steel welded onto the damascus blade,but i cant see a weld line.Maybe its just not etched.For the price and a ceremonial piece,it should be fine.
 
Seals said:
It's real damascus.Sometimes tangs are mild steel welded onto the damascus blade,but i cant see a weld line.Maybe its just not etched.For the price and a ceremonial piece,it should be fine.
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Really? Thats awesome to hear. I do really like the raindrop pattern that they offer & glad its not a welded tang.

I really do want this piece to be "real" damascus and high quality, not junk and wouldnt buy it if it was junk, so I'm glad to hear that it isnt. His prices seem really really cheap even with shipping. (I guess thats the benefit of sending all of your work overseas...)

I still dont see why the entire tang isnt damascus then?

What do you mean "it might be etched" exactly?

Is the art of damascus just a chemical treat at the end, or is it a process thats created from the beginning of the the knife making process?

How does the steel quality sound that they are using?

Here was the one I was really interested in:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...167247&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_959wt_1137

What damascus pattern is that showing, "Raindrop" isnt it?

What does it mean where they have Billet 531?

They also say "When we temperd it hardness become over 58 rc" - is 58 rc pretty high up there?
 
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agoutihead said:
What do you mean "it might be etched" exactly?

Is the art of damascus just a chemical treat at the end, or is it a process thats created from the beginning of the the knife making process?
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It is made up of two or more different steels.

The steel is treated to some sort of acidic bath. The softer of the steels erode more than the harder. The high points will be the harder material and the lows will be the softer. That is the etching.

Sometimes it is blued or darkened after and then polished so as to leave the dark color in the low areas so that there is more contrast.

Possibly the blade was etched and not the tang.
 
I would say the quality would be iffy and suspect at best.You pretty much are going to get what you pay for.Ive tried going cheap and ran into delamination problems and ugly steel that wasnt hardened properly.Thats why i said for a ceremonial piece it should be ok.If you want good steel go to Alabama Damascus or others that are USA made.
 
Seals said:
I would say the quality would be iffy and suspect at best.You pretty much are going to get what you pay for.Ive tried going cheap and ran into delamination problems and ugly steel that wasnt hardened properly.Thats why i said for a ceremonial piece it should be ok.If you want good steel go to Alabama Damascus or others that are USA made.
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Hmm I dunno after a little more research at their feedback, everyone seems pleased.

If they use quality steels and then harden it properly, what could really go wrong? Giving it a good looking acid bath would be the easy part if you can get the steel proper?

Is the 58rc that they claim their steel to be high on the hardening scale? And is there any way to tell or do you kind of have to go by their word?

I dunno I think I'm going to take a stab at it and see how it works out.
 
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After checking out Alabama Damascus they actually arent that expensive when you're buying just the blade itself with no handles from their "Knifemaking Supplies>Knife Blades", They are around 35-50 which is still affordable for me.

But they dont seem to have the style I'm looking for which is the double edged dagger like I just linked to on the ebay auction...

Too bad, I really like their work too.

That buckshot pattern is amazing, its like raindrop on steroids!

How does the Damascus finish stand up to use? I seem some other cheap blades I'd like to possibly get & wrap some paracord around...
 
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agoutihead said:
Hmm I dunno after a little more research at their feedback, everyone seems pleased.

If they use quality steels and then harden it properly, what could really go wrong? Giving it a good looking acid bath would be the easy part if you can get the steel proper?

Is the 58rc that they claim their steel to be high on the hardening scale? And is there any way to tell or do you kind of have to go by their word?

I dunno I think I'm going to take a stab at it and see how it works out.
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If they used quality steels and heat treat properly, it still could end up crappy if they didn't weld the billet properly. The steel could delaminate then, with the two different steels separating and cracking along weld lines during the grinding process or during use.


58rc means a hardness level of 58 on the Rockwell C scale, the hardness scale used for comparing cutlery. Assuming it is a true RC58, it's perfectly acceptable for cutlery. Swords and long blades are usually on the low end, ranging from as low as 30-40 if differentially hardened for the softer spine of the blade, but mostly around 45-55 for through-hardened.

Knives are generally hardened to somewhere between RC56 and RC62.

If you have a punch kit or a testing device, you can check the hardness yourself.
 
the tangs aren't etched, you can still see the pattern. Partial, stick, half, etc tangs are often another steel welded on because they are not seen. Damascus can be very expensive, no need to waste several inches of it where it will never be seen (inside a handle)
 
hardheart said:
the tangs aren't etched, you can still see the pattern. Partial, stick, half, etc tangs are often another steel welded on because they are not seen. Damascus can be very expensive, no need to waste several inches of it where it will never be seen (inside a handle)
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hmm. By "etched" you mean covered with the Damascus look?

Yeah but its still nice to have it all damascus though and at that point it looks like they did everything but an inch or so. Might as well just make it complete at that point.

I'm emailing back & forth with Alabama Damascus to see how much a similar style blade with them would cost.

But the Ebay guy is still a high possibility.
 
snakeriverknives and swordman39 are Damascus blade/billet sellers on feebay.Both forge quality steel and i believe both have dagger style blades.They weld tangs on,but they do it right and stand behind their product.If you're talking to Brad im sure he will whip up the blade you need.Good luck!
 
Seals said:
snakeriverknives and swordman39 are Damascus blade/billet sellers on feebay.Both forge quality steel and i believe both have dagger style blades.They weld tangs on,but they do it right and stand behind their product.If you're talking to Brad im sure he will whip up the blade you need.Good luck!
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I will have to check them out. I'd really prefer for it to have a solid tang, why do they weld tangs on instead of making it a solid piece?
 
I talked to the Alabama slammers & with the CAD data setup fee of $20 it will be $115 for a 10" knife that is 1.5" wide, has a double edge and has their awesome Buckshot pattern

I will even be able to add blood holes to it perhaps for a little spice :D

Its more than double what the guy from ebay is offering, so I hope the quality is the best available.
 
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