What exactly is damascus?

S

SarcoBlaster

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Jul 1, 2002
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I apologize in advance for being such a newbie, but what exactly is damascus steel? How is it made? It doesn't seem like it'd occur naturally, but I don't know. Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Randy
 
It's the capital of Syria, supposedly the oldest continuously existing city in the world.

It's also:

hand-wrought steel, made in various Asian countries, from parts of a bloom of heterogeneous composition, repeatedly folded over and welded and finally etched to reveal the resulting grain: used esp. for sword blades. Also called damask, damask steel
 
And finally, courtesy of AG Russell:

Damascus Steel
There is more mis-information about Damascus steel than about any other subject in the knife world. Bill Moran, the man credited with the reintroduction of Damascus said that if a knife was going to be used then the blade needed a center core of tool steel between two outer layers of Damascus. This statement applies to "layered Damascus" not to what may have been the original Damascus, that is Wootz which is believed to have originated in India. Wootz has been brought back by Al Pendray. Layered damascus, that is layers of different steels welded together, was made in Scandinavia, Japan, India, Toledo, Solingen and maybe even in Damascus. Today it is made in all parts of the world for handmade knives, swords and even for production knives. Quality ranges from poor to wonderful.
 
Scientific American magazine had an article about the Wootz (Damascus) steel a few years ago, very informative.
crawfordew
 
Originally posted by switched
It's the capital of Syria, supposedly the oldest continuously existing city in the world.

It's also:

hand-wrought steel, made in various Asian countries, from parts of a bloom of heterogeneous composition, repeatedly folded over and welded and finally etched to reveal the resulting grain: used esp. for sword blades. Also called damask, damask steel
Click to expand...

I am sure he was lookin for the second part of your answer ;) lol
 
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