Are my knives Damascus or fakes?

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  • Qbeam

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 16, 2008
    6,074
    Georgia
    Picked up a few inexpensive Damascus style blades online. Due to the price of the blades, <$50, I am sure they were not using high quality steels. They do have the patterns (ladder on one, and still trying to determine the pattern of the others) and look pretty, but I know they are knives that are <$50.

    On one knife, running my fingernail along the side of the blade, you can feel the layers as your nail runs across it. On the other two, it feels smooth.

    Does this mean that the smooth knives are fakes or smoothed out?

    Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.


    Q
     

    Bob A

    όυ φροντισ
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Nov 11, 2009
    30,690
    Pics are helpful. Smooth Damascus may just be polished well.
     

    StantonCree

    Watch your beer
    Jan 23, 2011
    23,932
    My neighbor lost a dog. If anyone sees him please contact my neighbor. He’s about yay big.
     

    Qbeam

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 16, 2008
    6,074
    Georgia
    20190910_073105.jpg
    This is the one that the layers can be felt.


    Q
     

    babalou

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 12, 2013
    16,019
    Glenelg
    from Staur? I got one from them and it looks proper. Do not know the strength of the aluminum foil, I mean steel :P Showed on the spine, as well.
     

    Bob A

    όυ φροντισ
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Nov 11, 2009
    30,690
    I've read that article before, and it basically says you may or may not have one. The testing is a little involved.



    Q

    Also not completely accurate. Wootz steel was produced in India until the mid-1800s, when the Brit imported steel drove it out of the market. The method was lost. Somewhat close approximations have been produced; some Russian metallurgists have been working on it, but for the most part there's been none produced in at least a century and a half.

    For those interested, a link to one of scores of threads on the subject, in an excellent weapons forum:
    http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21069&highlight=wootz

    Aside from tactile evaluation, you can check for layered steel by looking at areas where the grind of the blade has cut into the bar stock; often you can see the layers are different from the surface patterns.
     

    Silverlax

    Active Member
    Nov 13, 2014
    518
    Eastern Shore
    Also not completely accurate. Wootz steel was produced in India until the mid-1800s, when the Brit imported steel drove it out of the market. The method was lost. Somewhat close approximations have been produced; some Russian metallurgists have been working on it, but for the most part there's been none produced in at least a century and a half.

    For those interested, a link to one of scores of threads on the subject, in an excellent weapons forum:
    http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21069&highlight=wootz

    Aside from tactile evaluation, you can check for layered steel by looking at areas where the grind of the blade has cut into the bar stock; often you can see the layers are different from the surface patterns.


    It seems Al Pendray was able to consistently produce Wootz prior to his death a few years back see link.
    https://youtu.be/OP8PCkcBZU4
     

    welder516

    Deplorable Welder
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 8, 2013
    27,307
    Underground Bunker
    Lots of high end knives are counterfeit as i have been told on E-bay and other sites , buyer beware . I have ask the very question on another forum years ago and that is what others have told me .
     

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