New Blade for the Wife...

WavMixer said:
What's up with the crazy pattern on the blade?
Click to expand...
Damascus blades use alternating layers of hard and softer steel.
Hard steel gives a razor edge that keeps its sharpness, but it's brittle and will chip easily or even shatter under stress.
Softer steel is more forgiving - flexible and resilient - but it can easily be dented or bent and it doesn't take a good edge or stay sharp.

Layering them together you get the best of both: a sharp, durable blade that holds its edge and will bend without breaking.

The layering is done by welding the two steels together under heat, and hammering the result until thin enough to fold.
That composite is folded over, heated & hammered out thin once more.
The process is repeated again and again until there are many, many superthin layers.
The result is often called watered steel because of the rippled patterns that are visible.
The patterns are as individual as a fingerprint, no two are ever the same.
This is also how the impossibly sharp and flexible Samurai katanas were made in medieval Japan.

The technique is called the Damascus process because swordsmiths in Syria practiced it in the Middle Ages.
It soon became widely known that the best blades in Europe came from Damascus.

However, these legendary ancient blades contain a type of cottage industry steel from India which hasn't been produced since the 1800s, and were made using techniques that were lost when the traditional smiths died off without passing on their secrets.

Despite many attempts, no one in modern times has been able to reproduce the unusual combination of rare impurities in the steel and the long-lost secrets of the forging and tempering methods. Modern blades simply cannot equal the ancient ones.

Even so, today many of the best blades continue to be made in the layered Damascus style, only using modern steel and usually forged with mechanical assistance.

There are still master swordsmiths in Japan using hand hammering and manual tempering. Even though the ancient steel is no longer available, some of these smiths have family tradtitions dating back to the days of the Samurai.

Of course, as with just about anything you can think of, Chinese factories are now mass-producing low-cost fakes.
These are usually cheap stamped blades with patterns etched into the blades to look like watered steel.
However, there are also makers in China producing real layered blades of decent quality, mostly for the Japanese market.
 
eclecticsynergy said:
Damascus blades use alternating layers of hard and softer steel.
Hard steel gives a razor edge that keeps its sharpness, but it's brittle and will chip easily or even shatter under stress.
Softer steel is more forgiving - flexible and resilient - but it can easily be dented or bent and it doesn't take a good edge or stay sharp.

Layering them together you get the best of both: a sharp, durable blade that holds its edge and will bend without breaking.

The layering is done by welding the two steels together under heat, and hammering the result until thin enough to fold.
That composite is folded over, heated & hammered out thin once more.
The process is repeated again and again until there are many, many superthin layers.
The result is often called watered steel because of the rippled patterns that are visible.
The patterns are as individual as a fingerprint, no two are ever the same.
This is also how the impossibly sharp and flexible Samurai katanas were made in medieval Japan.

The technique is called the Damascus process because swordsmiths in Syria practiced it in the Middle Ages.
It soon became widely known that the best blades in Europe came from Damascus.

However, these legendary ancient blades contain a type of cottage industry steel from India which hasn't been produced since the 1800s, and were made using techniques that were lost when the traditional smiths died off without passing on their secrets.

Despite many attempts, no one in modern times has been able to reproduce the unusual combination of rare impurities in the steel and the long-lost secrets of the forging and tempering methods. Modern blades simply cannot equal the ancient ones.

Even so, today many of the best blades continue to be made in the layered Damascus style, only using modern steel and usually forged with mechanical assistance.

There are still master swordsmiths in Japan using hand hammering and manual tempering. Even though the ancient steel is no longer available, some of these smiths have family tradtitions dating back to the days of the Samurai.

Of course, as with just about anything you can think of, Chinese factories are now mass-producing low-cost fakes.
These are usually cheap stamped blades with patterns etched into the blades to look like watered steel.
However, there are also makers in China producing real layered blades of decent quality, mostly for the Japanese market.
Click to expand...
Cool info... (y)
 
eclecticsynergy said:
Damascus blades use alternating layers of hard and softer steel.
Hard steel gives a razor edge that keeps its sharpness, but it's brittle and will chip easily or even shatter under stress.
Softer steel is more forgiving - flexible and resilient - but it can easily be dented or bent and it doesn't take a good edge or stay sharp.

Layering them together you get the best of both: a sharp, durable blade that holds its edge and will bend without breaking.

The layering is done by welding the two steels together under heat, and hammering the result until thin enough to fold.
That composite is folded over, heated & hammered out thin once more.
The process is repeated again and again until there are many, many super thin layers.
The result is often called watered steel because of the rippled patterns that are visible.
The patterns are as individual as a fingerprint, no two are ever the same.
This is also how the impossibly sharp and flexible Samurai katanas were made in medieval Japan.

The technique is called the Damascus process because swordsmiths in Syria practiced it in the Middle Ages.
It soon became widely known that the best blades in Europe came from Damascus.

However, these legendary ancient blades contain a type of cottage industry steel from India which hasn't been produced since the 1800s, and were made using techniques that were lost when the traditional smiths died off without passing on their secrets.

Despite many attempts, no one in modern times has been able to reproduce the unusual combination of rare impurities in the steel and the long-lost secrets of the forging and tempering methods. Modern blades simply cannot equal the ancient ones.

Even so, today many of the best blades continue to be made in the layered Damascus style, only using modern steel and usually forged with mechanical assistance.

There are still master swordsmiths in Japan using hand hammering and manual tempering. Even though the ancient steel is no longer available, some of these smiths have family traditions dating back to the days of the Samurai.

Of course, as with just about anything you can think of, Chinese factories are now mass-producing low-cost fakes.
These are usually cheap stamped blades with patterns etched into the blades to look like watered steel.
However, there are also makers in China producing real layered blades of decent quality, mostly for the Japanese market.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great explanation and saving me a lot of typing!
 
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