Damascus Steel

Many of the custom knives I produced were forged from Damascus steel - also known as pattern-welded steel.

Building the billet

The steel I produced was usually formed of different variations of low- and high-carbon steels. Typically, I start with five pieces of 5″ × 1½″ × ¼″ stock: three pieces of 1095 (high carbon) and two pieces of A-203E (low carbon). The pieces are stacked - high carbon on the outside - welded, and then a handle is welded to the billet.

The billet is heated to welding heat, forge-welded together, lengthened, cut and folded. This process is repeated until the desired number of layers is reached - usually between 160 and 400 layers.

Patterning and etching

After the blade is forged to shape, it is patterned (ladder pattern, pool-and-eye, and so on), ground, heat-treated and hand-sanded. I then acid-etch the blade to bring out the pattern. The blade is cold-blued, which acts as a rust inhibitor as well as producing an attractive finish.

All-carbon Damascus

I also made all high-carbon-steel Damascus. The process is the same except that only high-carbon steels are used - I especially like 1095 and L-6. It cuts great and looks exceptional.

Damascus blades have a beauty all their own - and this is also a much tougher steel that seems to cut forever. You can see finished examples throughout the gallery.