Damascus steel skinning knife discussion

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JFrank

JFrank

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Gents
I have been looking to add to my collection of skinning knifes and one in particular is hand made with Damascus Steele in a local shop, however I have zero experience with such a beast so perhaps a few of our knowledgeable members will expand on the pros and cons.
Thanks
J
 
Damascus knives have, very simply, two different types of steel welded together by heat.
The types of steel determine whether or not the knife’s blade will be any good.
Some makers use cheap steel that won’t hold an edge very well and others use “good” steel and will hold an excellent edge.
 
IMG_20211219_201902475.jpg
A good example; I picked this up recently at an antique shop. I'm pretty sure it's somebody's project/ practice build with a blade or from a blank from an online knife supply shop. Probably not worth much more (if any) than I paid for it. But, I've never had a Damascus knife before, and I won't be heartbroken if I wreck or lose it.
 
This one is a custom a local knife maker made for me. Alabama Damascus, which is ball bearing steel and OCS (old chevy spring) as I recall. Scales are Desert Ironwood (Olneya Tesota). Nice knife and very sharp, but it isn't my favorite to use. Too expensive I suppose. I prefer my Knives of Alaska muskrat, or one of my smaller folding knives. Small knives are just handier. I find sheath knives to be somewhat clumsy.
View attachment 1049354
 
JeffG said:
I used Damascus blanks to make these two. Handsome, carbon blades. I don't know if they have a particular advantage because the are Damascus, but they look nice.


View attachment 1049362
Click to expand...

IMHO, Damascus is basically for looks. I can't think of a single thing a Damascus knife can do that another single steel knife can't do better if you pick it right. Nothing beats a nice stainless blade if things are going to get crappy. Damascus is going to rust if you don't stay on top of it. Let's face it, blood is basically salt water. It's tough on carbon steel. As far as carbon steel goes, D2 is really good and has some chromium in it for corrosion resistance. I have heard D2 referred to as near stainless. It ain't pretty, but it really holds an edge well. Knives of Alaska likes to use D2.
 
Damascus historically was used when we didn't have as much control over the quality of steel we were producing. It was basically a hedge against a bad bar of steel. Today we use it for aesthetics; ladder, raindrop and all kinds of patterns. Its pretty and today it isn't inherently better than any other steels. Unless you get the Damascus from a good maker it is probably low grade steel.
One exception to this rule is San Mai which is usually just a 3 layer steel sandwich(damascus) where the maker uses a very hard steel for the center and edge and uses a different steel for the sides. Some of us love our carbon steels(which rust) so we ask for a SanMai blade made with a core of say super hard 1095 steel and sides made from something like marine stainless. We then get a blade that holds an edge very well and can be sharpened easily without rusting with a little abuse. If you are looking at Japanese blades "white steel" is high carbon and "blue steel" is stainless.
I will say that I am firmly in the D2 crowd here and I want a few kitchen knives made from it hardened close to 70 rockwell.
 
oldschool45 said:
Damascus historically was used when we didn't have as much control over the quality of steel we were producing. It was basically a hedge against a bad bar of steel. Today we use it for aesthetics; ladder, raindrop and all kinds of patterns. Its pretty and today it isn't inherently better than any other steels. Unless you get the Damascus from a good maker it is probably low grade steel.
One exception to this rule is San Mai which is usually just a 3 layer steel sandwich(damascus) where the maker uses a very hard steel for the center and edge and uses a different steel for the sides. Some of us love our carbon steels(which rust) so we ask for a SanMai blade made with a core of say super hard 1095 steel and sides made from something like marine stainless. We then get a blade that holds an edge very well and can be sharpened easily without rusting with a little abuse. If you are looking at Japanese blades "white steel" is high carbon and "blue steel" is stainless.
I will say that I am firmly in the D2 crowd here and I want a few kitchen knives made from it hardened close to 70 rockwell.
Click to expand...

D2 does everything I want except polish well.
 
damascus any loner is just decorative.

If you want performance get a good monosteel intended for the application like Elmax.

If you want both the decorative appearance of damascus and edge performance for skinning, get a stainless damascus cored with Elmax.
 
hso said:
damascus any loner is just decorative.

If you want performance get a good monosteel intended for the application like Elmax.

If you want both the decorative appearance of damascus and edge performance for skinning, get a stainless damascus cored with Elmax.
Click to expand...

You know Elmax is basically 440C with a little vanadium added?
 
oldschool45 said:
D2 will hold a fine edge a loooong time and then a usable one dam near forever. But I'll take anything but generic "stainless steel" for a work knife.
Click to expand...

You really don't know what kind of generic stainless you get if it just says stainless. Usually one of the 440 steels A, B, or C. They will all work pretty good for light duty stuff. I carry a little vintage Olsen pocketknife. #154. It was made in Seki, Japan and it's great little knife though it only says stainless. By the way it performs for me, I am guessing 440C, but don't know for sure. Sure sharpens up nice.
 
HowieG said:
You know Elmax
Click to expand...
adds a lot...a lot of V and a little Mo

Even small composition changes make remarkable performance changes (with tradeoffs). Then there's the heat treat and ...

I like high alloy steels like D2 for some applications, but I like 1095 for other applications and L6 and 5160 for different uses, and S30V-90V, XHP, CPMs, ... etc.

D2 packs a lot of "value" into the composition and makers like Bob Dozier get every bit of performance out of it with great understanding of the heat treat and grinds that make it perform.

OTOH, "damascus", pattern welded steel is decorative and won't typically perform as well as D2 or Elmax or ...
 
Last edited:
hso said:
adds a lot...a lot of V and a little Mo

Even small composition changes make remarkable performance changes (with tradeoffs). Then there's the heat treat and ...

I like high alloy steels like D2 for some applications, but I like 1095 for other applications and L6 and 5160 for different uses, and S30V-90V, XHP, CPMs, ... etc.

D2 packs a lot of "value" into the composition and makers like Bob Dozier get every bit of performance out of it with great understanding of the heat treat and grinds that make it perform.

OTOH, "damascus", pattern welded steel is decorative and won't typically perform as well as D2 or Elmax or ...
Click to expand...

There is an upside and a downside to everything. Add a little of this and that, and steel becomes tougher and holds an edge longer, but gets difficult to sharpen (possibly too difficult). Make it harder and it might become brittle. All of our human games are interesting or crazy depending on your point of view. A hundred different cartridges to kill the same animals. Fifty different (well some are pretty close to each other) steels to make a knife that we use to do the same job of processing the animals we just shot.

Personally, I am a Dragon Glass fan. Really really sharp and really really holds an edge. Just a touch brittle, but if you have a white walker problem, well then......
 
hso said:
adds a lot...a lot of V and a little Mo

Even small composition changes make remarkable performance changes (with tradeoffs). Then there's the heat treat and ...

I like high alloy steels like D2 for some applications, but I like 1095 for other applications and L6 and 5160 for different uses, and S30V-90V, XHP, CPMs, ... etc.

D2 packs a lot of "value" into the composition and makers like Bob Dozier get every bit of performance out of it with great understanding of the heat treat and grinds that make it perform.

OTOH, "damascus", pattern welded steel is decorative and won't typically perform as well as D2 or Elmax or ...
Click to expand...
What do you prefer L6 for?
 
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