This blade was Forge welded and hand forged to shape, to the best of my knowledge; in 1980. Yes ... You in the back there. “Now, with all due respect; HOW ON EARTH do you know that???” Excellent question. By the composition of the layers, the number of layers, and my knowledge of which alloys and patterns I used at different times.

Background:

I’ll let you refresh your memory on ancient laminated blades ... from Damascus and Asia.

In the USA, the late Bill Moran is credited with reintroducing Damascus Steel to the Custom Knife market, about 1973. I first met Bill, about 1977; when I found his name in a Book I’d bought. He lived in Braddock Heights, Md., only about 35-40 minutes from me. Had his shop outside Middletown, Md. Actually not planned, but through a quark of the newspaper ads, a House was for rent when I needed one ... and turned out to be on the same street at Bill. I lived there 79-80 until the house burned out while I was at a knife show in Harrisburg, Pa. But for years, I spent time with Bill. At his shop. In his home. On his back porch (where he shot airguns btw). In a small restaurant over pizza. And we talked. And while we talked, I absorbed. What he said about Damascus. What he said about his research. What he read. I was a voracious reader then. I bought one of the huge volumes of reference book he referred to often and I found interesting passages that held clues.

After the house fire, I moved to New Windsor in Feb. 1980. In that tiny tiny shop, I build a Forge. I forged one blade .... never finished and still in my tool rack. Then I said ... “I got this”, and made my first completed blade. A double Edged Damascus Steel Dagger with spiral fluted inlaid Cocobolo Handle. I made tracks to Bills home and busted in on him and a big collector. “Look what I made Bill!” I was 25 and excited.

I then made a rolling mill and a power hammer. Set the back wall of my tiny shop on fire with the Forge heat. (Somebody stopped in and told me smoke was rolling from the back wall while I was forging. I replaced the wall with Concrete blocks. Made a better Forge enclosure. And, then I made this steel.

Now, there are about six acids that I’ve used to etch blades. They all act differently on different alloys. I chose one and etched our blade. I couldn’t etch it six times and ... 7 times after you choose what you like best and do it again. By then, the blade is wrecked. When you are working with a mix of steels, pattern, density, acid, time, temperature, etc., you go through a “Period/Phase” of work. You stick there and if you learn something else, you move on. If you like that, you make blades until you change Phases. New steels come across your part. New patterns are tried.

This blade is where I started. It’s a quality piece of steel. BTW ... nobody was making High Contrast Damascus yet (with a high Nickle iron component layer to resist acid. This is akin to an older Japanese finish. Smooth. Subtle. Quality steel. Not flashy.

Ok. My phone finger is tired. Hope you got something from the story. I’ll edit/correct later.

Enjoy
Gary

Very interesting story Gary. One of those" right place at the right time " scenarios to lead you down a new path in you Knife/ Metal working business.
Thanks for explaining it to us.

Bob

Thanks Bob,

It’s been a bunch of work. I’ll be glad to keep at it and hope it brings enjoyment to people (and dinner to us. Haha).

Gary

That's a great story for sure . You got lucky to hook up ! I'm not a fan of the loud Damascus knifes they look fake to me . My md 97 shows the layers really good on the edge and besides the obvious I like to point that out to people . I am all about the super alloys and such that are around now a days and due to the fact that the Japanese and damascusians knew they had to create a stronger material invented the process out of necessity I'm sure .
I'm not sure why but the roller chain Damascus looks the best to me . I think it's because I recognize the chain from an earlier life . I've got some HUGE roller chain and the links are about 2"-3" long each & maybe 1-1/2" wide . I forsure would need a power hammer to convince that into a new shape .

Thanks
Kurt

Hi Kurt,

Like to see that chain. Wow. Impresses me when men conceived of something and were able to set about to build it. The early Ocean Liners, Locomotives, etc.

The Japanese method smelted iron bearing sand into about 4% carbon cast iron. They then had to refine that and lower the carbon to about 1%. Fold/weld/fold/weld/repeat. Pushing out impurities and lowering carbon. Lots of work. They’d then forge weld together various extremes of this. The most dense for the edge. A bit lesser for the back spine. Then skins of lower grade (but tough) grades for the side skins. Then stretch and forge.

The Europeans sought to stretch the usefulness of their hard won small quantities of steel by mixing it with iron. The “Hamburger Helper” concept with the Steel being the Hamburger.

A third version called Wootz Steel was made in the Mid East. It was a sort of granulated steel suspended in an iron matrix. Made in a crucible and welded BUT not allowing the components to go into solution. Very tricky. It has a sort of granite pattern. Excellent steel.

Gary

Gary,

Damascus steel knives have always fascinated me. Quite a rich history with reams of reading material. Pretty interesting that, IIRC, the origins are not documented well. Again, IIRC, it was a lost art that was either rediscovered or resurrected a few times in history, Bill Moran being the latest iteration.

Walter Sorrells is my second favorite US knife maker. He is definitely worth a little time.

Lon