Pro's and Cons' of Damascus; the different types?

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peshkabz

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Already read all, and I mean all, of the threads on damascus - but I want to know more - so please apease....

Who are the experts on damascus? Besides appearance why would I want a Damascus blade - fixed blade or folders?
What are the types of metal mixes- ........??
thanks in-advance!!:)
 
I think for starters on the "experts" of damascus... check into Kevin Cashen. Just bring your checkbook...
 
Aside from cosmetics there is only one reason to employ damascus in a knife blade. By forge welding a softer steel with a harder steel, you can get some of the edge holding of the harder steel and some of the toughness of the softer steel combined in a single blade. That is the concept of the old forge welded Japanese swords. Now understand that damascus made to give you this kind of performance is relatively rare.

Most damascus is a welding of steel and something like nickel for apprearances' sake. You need to use two good quality steels in a high performance damascus and that doesn't make a product with the dramatic appearance you would get with nickel.

I can mention one commercial damascus that fits the bill and that is Damasteel which is actually a damascus made from stainless steels. I have two blades made from it and it performs quite well. It isn't very dramatic looking, however. There are several custom makers that produce high performance damascus.

Take care.
 
you can get some of the edge holding of the harder steel and some of the toughness of the softer steel combined in a single blade

It is also said that it causes a micro-serrated effect giving the blade micro-"teeth".
 
Well, I have one damascus knife, and it WORKS. This knife is mot great at push cutting (edge is honed to be resistant,) but it saws and slaches like mad.
 
Originally posted by pyton357ru
Well, I have one damascus knife, and it WORKS. This knife is mot great at push cutting (edge is honed to be resistant,) but it saws and slashes like mad.
Click to expand...
 
A damascus knife made from high carbon steels (all of which would make good knives) is a thing of beauty and will perform as well as the steels used to make the damascus. The diference between a high performance damascus knife and a high performance knife made from a singel steel, is beauty. Being a pretty knife doesn't make it cut better, but it has a certain pride of ownership that goes with it. Kevin Cashen has won a cutting contest with an 01/L6 mixture and I have won one with a 52100/15N20 mix. There is some one that won a rope cutting contest with one I think and I don't remember his name. I passed my performance test for the MS stamp with a 500+ ladder pattern of 52100/15N20 mix. Jim Hrisolulas uses pure nickel in his mix but has a large number of layers so that the effect of the nickel will give the steel the "toothy" feel when cutting. This will produce a different visual effect and can be enhanced by bluing and etching.

The steels commonly used for high performance mixes are and there are probably a few more; 1084/(L6 or 15N20), 52100/ (L6 or 15N20), and 01/ (L6 or 15N20). This is a high carbon (.80% to 1 %) steel with a nickel bearing high carbon steel (.70% carbon and 1.5% to 2% nickel). The easiest to weld is the 1084/L6 because of the carbon content is so close and the welding temperature is almost identical. The 52100 and 01 have a slightly higher carbon content and require a little bit higher temperature to make the forge weld.

There is nothing prettier or better than pulling out a very nice folder with the dramatic damascus blade and exotic handle material to cause the curiosity of the surrounding people to want to know "how did they do that". Fixed or folding blades, it just depends on what you personally want in a knife. I think some ones byline is "Life is too short to carry an ugly knife".
If you get any of the knife magazines or the Knives 2003 book, it will have some very beautiful damascus in it. You can see then why a lot of people will pay for the extra time necessary to make the steel look so beautiful. If you are a knife maker and don't do damascus yet, when you start, that is about all you will want to do and then "check the pattern". :) :)
 
To get a decent edge it needs two quality cutting steels, with not too much difference in carbon content. Usually carbonsteels and low alloyed tool steels are used but there are also stainless ones (not only Damasteel). The performance depends on that you choose the right combination for your tasks. For example 0,5% and 0,6% carbon for bigger blades with impact strengh or 1,2% and 1,3% carbon for like sashimi knife. It seems to be more difficult to make damascus with high carbon content. One more thing is that a maker can do more things wrong on a damascus blade than on a normal one.
If the maker is very good than i guess the damascus blade will perform very close to a compareable steel but some :D are much more beautiful. :)
 
As I understand from what I read - originally reason for damascus was to add additional quality to steel by special processing. It was same steel sheets at the
beginning or not sheets but cables tied together and hammered into blade. As a result they produce exceptional blades. As I understand - iron crystallization in
heterogeneous blade structure goes different and makes it better than simple homogeneous blade.
It is hard to imagine midieval knight asking for pretty looking sword with raindrop pattern - he was demanding for strong good blade at first.
Modern times it is all about pattern as I understand from web readings. Damasteel even makes it using powdered metalurgy.
Thanks, Vassili.
 
From what I understand about the folding of the steel of the Japanese blades, was that it was done to clean the steel. When they started with smelting the ore with carbon inducing material, these pieces would be stacked and forge welded many times to purify the steel and to get the carbon content to the level that the particular smith liked. There were no clean steels with all the alloying elements in it to make it suitable for the swords, they had to make it.
For the soldier, the sword that didn't break was the one he wanted. Keeping the back soft and a hardened edge was the requirement of the blade and a 10xx steel fit the bill.
 
Damascus by name related to Damasc - Siria. I do not now much about Japanies katanas. The reason for multylayer was not only purification, some damascua was made from steel cables not sheets. I read that Basov, for example, strews cast iron powder betwin layers to add some crisallization centers and strengthen blade this way. Antrique bladesmithes use some secret flux to prevent oxidation betwen layers and also adds some quality. This secrets were lost.
Thanks, Vassili.
 
I just received a Damascus hunter made by Billy Sowell and I can tell you that this custom will cut with any knife and is easily resharpened. If the right steels are used in the mix Damascus is awesome and will cut with any carbon steel. The only drawback I suppose is that it will rust/corrode if not cared for.
Personally, I like damascus because it is beautiful and has a "toothy" edge that really is aggressive and so easy to sharpen, and the rust thing, imho, is way overated! Just my two cents.
 
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