Who makes a good, using Damascus blade?

T

turkeyman

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Dec 31, 2001
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Am interested in someone who makes a Damascus blade that will hold a good edge and is easily sharpened (and excellent workmanship, of course). Would appreciate opinions from "users".....thanks!
 
I would say that there are too many to mention.

For a user damascus, my first choice would be David Winston, another forumite.

Great knife, great value, great craftmanship.

I'm sure that every one who has his knife would agree with me, especially TheBadGuy :D
 
Ray Kirk comes immediately to mind. Wally Hayes. Daryl Meier's damascus is great working steel as well and is featured on a variety of knives, including Bud Nealy's. (But as mentioned, there are many others.)
 
As Blues stated there are a bunch. My choices would be between Ray, Howard Clark, Don Fog, Keith Kilby, John Fitch and Sava Damlovac simply because I personally feel these guys take their damascus blades quite seriously as users from steel selection to forging to heat treat.

When I see posts that damascus is for art, I would not want to try to explain those thoughts to any of those guys since they have worked so hard (some for many years) to make the finest working damascus they can make. It is not a fluke that these guys spend a lot of their time teaching and helping anyone who desires the knowledge they have obtained.
 
What Gus said. Many of the names he mentioned are mutual friends of Gus and myself, and that's the problem with even trying to answer a question as broad as this.

Good input, Gus. :)
 
There are too many to list. It really depends on your price range, too. Right off the top of my head I would say Kevin Cashen and J.D. Smith.

Kevin Cashen is an obvious choice considering he is the first and only person to win an ABS cutting competition with a pattern-welded blade--low layer cound at that. He uses O1 and L6 primarily (two great cutters that cut great together!), and pays strict attention to time and temperature. He also regularly produces pattern-welded hunters that see real use.

J.D. Smith is my teacher, which, on the one hand, makes me somewhat biased. But, on the other hand, it also means that I have seen him construct countless billets of every imagineable sort of pattern-welded steel, and seen these billets go into service. J.D. has an interesting dual classification system; he distinguishes between "weapons grade" and "furniture grade" damascus. Any shortcoming in terms of construction (a very slight flaw) or materials (low carbon steel, nickel, etc.) is cause for a "demotion" to "furniture grade." This steel will only be used for guards, butt caps, etc. "Weapons grade" damascus is the only thing that makes it into J.D.'s blades--be they long swords or short hunters--and is free of flaws and composed entirely of high carbon steel (in this case primarily 1084 and 15n20).

John
 
Can not believe I forgot J.D. Smith. J.D. is also one of the guys who spends a lot of time teaching others. Sava had a table next to him at Blade a while back and since I hang out at "Sava's Place" I got to spend quite a bit of time being a fly on the wall listening to those two. I felt very lucky to be introduced to J.D. (I am sure I forgot others and I just have not had the chance to talk with Kevin.) I guess we better add Mr. Wootz to our list too. (Al Pendray.) Another guy to consider is Ed Caffery, but he is in the sandbox serving his country at the moment. I mave not had a chance to own one of Mike Williams knives, but I feel that his would pass muster. I also need to add James Batson and Larry Harley in there.

I want to echo beluga, Blues and John. There are many more. In my case and I suspect strongly in all our cases these are makers that we have gotten to know and understand their attitude towards their damascus.
 
Dennis Riley makes a heck of a knife for $400. Checkout the makers for sale or Knife Reviews on this site (might be in the custom forum) here.

A lot of value in a $400 knife with really great fit and finish.
 
I could probably add a few dozen names to the list and still not come close to naming all the bladesmiths that make high performance damascus.
 
Kevin Cashen is an obvious choice considering he is the first and only person to win an ABS cutting competition with a pattern-welded blade
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John, I believe that Ray Kirk won a cutting contest with one of his damascus blades, but I can't recall the particulars at the moment.
 
While all those other makers probably make awesome using damascus knives, the only one I have actually used is made by Kevin Cashen. Yes, it is beautiful, but the O1/L6 steel mix really takes and holds an awesome edge. Kevin is an absolute fanatic about heat treat, and his damascus really works. Nick Wheeler is making a little knife for me, and I provided him a small piece of Kevin Cashen's O1/L6 twist for the blade. Nick said that after he quenched the blade, it would take the teeth off a file! Not just skate, but take the teeth off. I like that in a using steel! :)
 
Danbo, thanks for the info! How does the Cashen 01/L6 damascus sharpen? I have heard lots of positive comments on Kevin's damascus, very nice to hear from an actual user.
Also, have heard a couple of good comments on John Fitch's damascus...if it is anything like his carbon blades then it is a winner! I have a 1084 hunter from John that is one of my favorite using knives...it takes an awesome edge and re-sharpens in less than a minute!!
 
Turkeyman, a damascus blade is not going to be any harder to sharpen than a plain carbon steel blade made from the hardest steel used in the mix. In this case, the O1. In fact, I have found this mix to be very easy to sharpen, especially compared to some of those newfangled powder stainless steels with megadoses of Vanadium. O1/L6 damascus takes a particularly wicked and toothy fine edge. The hard part about using a damascus blade from any of the good makers, is that the cost is usually twice as much as their carbon steel knives, and you have to get over the shock of using a knife that expensive. :)
 
One thing I would like to add that I learned from experience, be very careful when you sharpen a damascus blade. If you are not careful you will find yourself scarring the blade and you will really want to kick yourself as this is an error that can not be polished out.
 
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