Damascus Knife

[SmeeAgain]

A few years back I spent a solid month making a chunk of Damascus for a knife blade... by hand!
The finished piece is only about 10" long, 2" wide and 1/4" thick. But the material I started with was likely double that.
Each time I smacked it, sparks would fly reducing the overall mass.
I lost count how many layers it was.
I used almost 3 boxes of borax and enough propane to heat my house for a couple winters but... it turned out beautiful!
That and several times I thought my arm was going to fall off.
Don't try it at home without a power hammer!
You can buy Damascus blanks off Ebay cheap!
When finidhed, I gave it to my son to make a knife out of it.
It's not a knife yet. He's made several others but I think he might be afraid of this one for the intensive time & labor that went into it.
I'd really like to see it become something before I die of old age.

 

[hso]

You can buy Damascus blanks off Ebay cheap!

There's no "cheap" "damascus" worth having, especially the junk on eBay. Others here are aware I'm an American Bladesmith Society Apprentice trained under Larry Harley and Wes Byrde. I also have helped make real damascus in various bladesmith hammer-ins.

Making your own damascus steel billet should drive the point home that real Damascus can't be cheap considering the labor you had to put into it.

I've handled the cheap Pakistani trashmaskus off of ebay. It is good for decorative wall hangers, but won't harden and hold an edge. Stay away from that junk.

You can buy cutlery grade damascus from real knifemaker supply houses like Jantz.

 

[SmeeAgain]

There's no "cheap" "damascus" worth having, especially the junk on eBay. Others here are aware I'm an American Bladesmith Society Apprentice trained under Larry Harley and Wes Byrde. I also have helped make real damascus in various bladesmith hammer-ins.

Making your own damascus steel billet should drive the point home that real Damascus can't be cheap considering the labor you had to put into it.

I've handled the cheap Pakistani trashmaskus off of ebay. It is good for decorative wall hangers, but won't harden and hold an edge. Stay away from that junk.

You can buy cutlery grade damascus from real knifemaker supply houses like Jantz.

I'm sure a professional could do it in a fraction of the time I did but still the cost would be enormous.
When I thought I was done welking, it didn't look like much. I was kinda heartbroken until I etched it and the pattern came out.
Then I was so proud of myself nobody was good enough to even talk to me lol. Not really, but it felt pretty good.
Having said that, enen with a power hammer, I'll never do it again.
Now I can truly appreciate what went into making Japanese swords. I'm guessing months to years for just one.

 

[hso]

it felt pretty good

It sure does, and it is well earned.

I'm guessing months to years for just one.

Nope. Look for the videos we've posted in the past on forging nohinto. It was usually a master and a couple of apprentices wielding bigger hammers. If you think about having to make a living as an artisan, you can't do that if you can't produce product.