Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Step by step in making a damascus chef knife

"As to flat grinding very well, I still spend my share of time chasing grind lines around and fixing mistakes."

I know the feeling. I can hollow grind okay, most of the time, but I still spend a lot of time trying to get the grind line straight before I run out of blade.

Awesome. thanks for taking us along with you one the project.

Very cool... thanks for the write-up...

Here are the pics I took of the finished knife. Please let me know what you think...




Thanks for taking the time to check out

Wowza

Man, that is awesome.
Thank you for taking the time to share the process.

With my talents, I think I could have done a mediocre job at removing the mill scall on the wheel. The project would go south pretty quickly after that.

Thanks again, nice work!

Gorgeous blade. Thanks for taking the time and showing us all the process of creating this beautiful knife.

You are very talented! Very nice! How does the damascus hold an edge? I am not that well versed on damascus.

Great question. Here are my thoughts on the use of stainless vs non stainless high cabon steel.

This damascus is made from high carbon non stainless steel. These steels can take a thinner edge than most stainless steels without chipping. This is due to the high alloy content of stainless steels to make them "stainless". Non stainless steel is typically easier to sharpen or hone on a steel or ceramic rod. For me a few strokes on a very fine ceramic rod gets the edge back to its initial sharpness. The tradeoff of thinner edge and easy sharpening is that it does not hold the edge as long as most stainless blades. However to put it in perspective, to test my blades I typically cut a .75 inch hanging sisal rope in one swing(for larger blades), then chop through a pine 2x4 and cut some carboard. The knife will still shave hair after these tests.I then flex the edge on a brass rod to make sure it is not too brittle (chip) or too soft (stay flexed). For my personal carry knife, hunting knife and kitchen knives I much prefer non stainless high carbon. I also make and use stainless steels blades like d2 and 154cm, just personally prefer the non stainless.

This knife is available for sale in the classifieds

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...531830/Custom_Damascus_Knife#Post4531830

Simply outstanding --- both the work and the step by step comentary and pics.
Thanks for sharing.
Tim

I have never made a knife by forging, but I have a question. You used two different types of steel for the damascus.

Could you forge weld a blade, using layers of the same type of steel, such as all 01 or all L6, or does it make a better blade to alternate layers of different steels?

You're a friggin genius. That's beautiful. I want to be your apprentice.

You could forge weld a blade from bars of the same steel just fine. It will not have a pattern when dipped in the etchant though. The two different steels are only used in order to develop a pattern in the steel.