BW Custom Damascus Knives

C

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Sep 5, 2005
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At Smoky Mountain I did a search for "Bear Damascus;" however, like so many
search engines, one gets tons of crap one never asks for, so I got a listing for
a BW Custom knife for $39 that looked pretty nice. The only thing is, it doesn't
say anything about it being a Bear. Does anyone know anything about it?

This isn't going to be one of these knives with varnish on it, is it?

BWC6.jpg


Nice looking knife, but is it any good?
 
Don't walk...RUN from this knife...I bought one...worst piece of junk I ever bought...it is made in Pakistan and is nothing but garbage. On the plus side...I traded mine at a swap meet for a great little beagle puppy who is a welcome addition to our family. Again I cannot stress what a total piece of garbage this knife is...DO NOT buy it...unless you enjoy throwing 40 bucks into the trash.

To clarify...in small letters on the box only...the word PAKISTAN...that alone should scare you.

The blade was covered with some kind of oily crud...it took me a half hour with a miracle cloth to even get it halfway tolerable. The knife is just bad...really bad. I will NEVER buy another BW custom knife again.
 
Yeah, Kestrel64, I just read your experience in another thread. The board search engine was down, but Google wasn't. Thanks. For the price I wasn't going to jump without someone knowing something about it. Thanks.

I really like Bear Damascus, but they don't often have sharp points. In fact, they're a bit rounded. I've never bought any Marble's Damascus, but I've heard they're okay. Bear has a very nice pattern that runs along the edge. I've seen some pattern welded blades that have swirls all the way down to the edge, and I don't know whether that matters. I LOVE Damascus blades, especially now that they're affordable. As long as they're tough and sharp.
 
No problem...I am usually not negative at all about knives...but I was so put out buying this thing. I am glad you didn't waste your money...while I enjoy SMKW, I think they really mislead folks with these BW Custom knives. There is NO where in the catalog that mentions them being made in Pakistan.
 
I have to say that all the BW Custom stuff is realy good, one mans thought doesent make him right. If everyone where to put where there steel is made it might suprise people more.
To me Steel is steel, Damascus actually was used world wide and wasent just a USA thing. But who am I to argue Steel with someone that realy knows his stuff (not).
 
Brian-O said:
I have to say that all the BW Custom stuff is realy good, one mans thought doesent make him right. If everyone where to put where there steel is made it might suprise people more.
To me Steel is steel, Damascus actually was used world wide and wasent just a USA thing. But who am I to argue Steel with someone that realy knows his stuff (not).
Click to expand...


BW Employee? And if you're backing this Pakastani junk then you are the one who doesn't know his/her stuff.:thumbdn:
 
with the smokey mtn catalogs,ive noticed the better stuff starts out in the beginning of the catalog, & by the time you get to the half way mark,all the junk starts to appear,with some case & german brands peppered in between.i figured the bw's were pakistan or india,theres some other damascus knives they feature that are cheaply priced,i bet they are made in similar places,too.:barf:
 
I'm also going to steer away from Marbles as well and stick with Bear and Son. I have three of their Damascus blades and like them, plus I have a few folders and a few skinning knives in leather holsters. The knives are a bit odd by today's standards, but the quality, I think, is there.

I've never seen a good blade come out of Pakistan, but who knows? I remember when anything made in Japan was considered garbage.

7-6-bearmgc3.jpg


Bear Damascus. Very nice detail.
 
Well all I am saying is any Damascus that has "Actual" 512 layers and done by hand regardles if its from Pak, or China or Japan or here in the US is good Steel. To say that someones stuff is bad just because of where it is made doesent make since. Lets not forget that allot of the Roman blades and Egyptian craftsmanship were created from the Pak people. The Japanese used it, the Celtics did and countless cultures used Damascus. If your ever courious about the time line of this steel, drive to SMKW in Sevierville Tn and go the the National Knife Museum and look at all the different cultures that Damascus comes from.
 
Looks like it.

No, it's not like every Damascus is hammer beaten and has 512 layers of steel. Some have as little as 129 layers. I'm not a big fan of Kershaw's Damascus because it looks too much like a sharpening stone. I like the look of the Damascus above. Also, not all grades of steel used in Damascus are the same. Not all grades of 440A are the same, or 440C. And even if you have a good grade of Damascus, if you use cheap materials for the handles, bosters, and sheaths, your whole product comes across looking cheap.

I haven't seen BW knives, but the price makes me a bit suspicious.

See an excellent article and video here. (Scroll down a bit.)

http://onemansblog.com/2006/12/16/damascus-steel-production-wvideo/

damascus2.jpg


Example of classic Damascus.
 
Thanks for the web-site. Very good form of info about how it is done.

I think the sheath shown with the BWC6 has a great custom work, some of the best I have seen.
Plus the Handle has all that brass inlay, knowing how hard that is, I can respect all the hard work.
 
Well let me defend why I called the BW Customs garbage...besides a very misleading "Pakistan" on the box. When the knife arrived...the blade was covered with some kind of "crud" oily, sticky, and gross...it took over a half hour with a miracle cloth to get it halfway presentable. When you held the knife in hand (and my hands are not big) the way it was made, the guard of the knife actually cut into you...really dumb design. While the Celtic inlays looked kind of cool...upon close inspection, they were just barely inlaid..almost like some decals were used on the finer work. The sheath, while ok..was nothing that I haven't seen a guy at the county fair stamp into leather with a die and a mallet in 2 minutes.

I am not a knife "snob" by any means...in fact...my collection is very heavy with CRKT's, which I think are excellent knives for the money. But this BW Custom was just a poorly constructed piece of junk. If you like the knives they have...more power to you...but I will always warn someone about them if they ask before they throw 40 bucks out the window.

This knife was no better than the Jim Frost knives that SMKW sells...I was very disappointed in my purchase. I am very open to a world economy...some of my CRKT's are made in Taiwan, and my Corkum First Strike is made in China..and guess what...the quality is excellent. But...even saying this...I have never seen one thing worth buying or even carrying for free that came out of Pakistan...it isn't just the blade...it is poor quality overall. I have been to SMKW a couple times in person...one of the best places I know of to go, I also buy from the catalog as well...but junk is junk...no matter how much I like the place it comes from.
 
Duly Noted, that stuff your refuring to is called cosmoline. Same stuff the military uses to ship there knives. As far as the BW stuff, i guess i got lucky with the one i purchased. I have most all the ones they put out and again i must have gotten lucky. I got to meet him during there Rep-weekend and they were introducing his new bowie. Its a chunk of knife and I have already got my order in. He has one called the celtic clover and the only complant i have is that they sell them out befor i can ever get one. They got 300 of them in and all 300 hundred were gone in a weeks time. I asked them why they look so primitave and they said it was by design. They wanted it to look close to what they might have done cntrys ago. I asked them about the inlay and why the brass pieces were some bigger or smaller, they said that even though we have mottern tecknolagy they didnt want it to look modern.

As far as them been like frost, wounder why... in the catalog it says he works for smoky for over 20 years. He probably picked up from the owner, frost, Case (which from what it says is who he designs for thus the SMKW exclusive banner by each one) Buck, United, Schrade and even custom Spyder co. and etc.
 
Kestrel64 said:
Don't walk...RUN from this knife...I bought one...worst piece of junk I ever bought...it is made in Pakistan and is nothing but garbage. On the plus side...I traded mine at a swap meet for a great little beagle puppy who is a welcome addition to our family. Again I cannot stress what a total piece of garbage this knife is...DO NOT buy it...unless you enjoy throwing 40 bucks into the trash.

To clarify...in small letters on the box only...the word PAKISTAN...that alone should scare you.

The blade was covered with some kind of oily crud...it took me a half hour with a miracle cloth to even get it halfway tolerable. The knife is just bad...really bad. I will NEVER buy another BW custom knife again.
Click to expand...

Seriously, a $39 knife for a puppy? I'm thinking there are some very unhappy little dogs out there, if someone's giving them away like that.
 
I know nothing about the knives mentioned, but I was at a custom knife show on the weekend and enough decent damascus to make one knife blade was being sold in it's 'raw' state for much more than that knife.
Frankly, at that price, it's got to be nothing more than a wall-hanger.
Greg
 
When I was there at SMKW the owner of the Knife works was with BW Customs and he was saying that for as long as he has been in business he has made great contacts. These people that he has become great friends in turn
do what ever they can to make SMKW happy. There for, thats the reason why the knives are made at a good cost for them. As Chuck Buck (he was there signing autographs) said the friendships is why SMKW can sell there knives at such at great value to there customers. Along side him were the Case people saying the exact thing. So for the BW stuff, I think the sale reflects from the owner of the Knife works more than it being cheaply made.
I watch there Knives live show and the host Steve Koontz has said that the owner has a huge friend base and fan base and even the TV show is allowed to have exclusive stuff made just for them to sell on TV.

At least thats the word on the street.
 
I found out that all the BW Customs are
1) Genuine Pattern Wielded Damascus steel
2)180 to 500 (optional) layers
3) Composition: Highg Carbon steel (1084) and mild steel (WS1)
 
Ah, but what about number four: What's the Rockwell of their knives? Good Damascus goes from about 58-60. I'm now more interested in Fox N Hound's Damascus.

.
 
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