There was an implication made early on in this thread that damascus was only made for looks and was never used in cutting contests. This is patently untrue. First, every Master Smith candidate must complete a performance test with a 300 layer pattern-welded blade, ending with the bending of the blade without it delaminating or breaking. I have personally used my own damascus blades in cutting contests and they fared as well as any of my single steel blades. Unlike many makers, I carry and use my own blades, of which every one is damascus. I carried and used them on expeditions into the northern Amazon over 13 years. The keys to high performance damascus blades are using the proper combinations (addressed earlier in the thread) and simply knowing how to make the stuff. There are damascus makers on every corner these days, but only a few make really high quality steel.
Thanks,
Terry Vandeventer
ABS MS
Terry, thanks for this because this thread was initially started a long time ago and I will not be necroposting if I add to this part of topic now that you touched on it again. There has always been a lot of misunderstanding about the performance of Damascus, or even what Damascus is in many cases. Early on the material was touted as the fantastic steel of the ancient that could do things no modern steel could and this was just plain wrong and misleading. Especially since much of this was based upon the idea of using high and low carbon layers which, ironically produced a very poorly performing steel. Then the pendulum swung the other way and damascus started to get labeled as pretty but not serious in performance, which is equally erroneous.
I had done some serious studying of steel combinations, performance and properties of Damascus when the ABS cutting competitions were really taking off and I was approached to give it a try because the rumor going around was that nobody used damascus blades in cutting competitions because it would not perform as wells as single steels. I was determined to set the record straight on that and so I entered the competitions, and never used anything but Damascus just to prove a point. In my very first competition I was the first competitor to win a cutting competition with a damascus blade. I went on to that win until I made it to the world championships in Atlanta and never used anything but Damascus just to prove a point about the material. I was never that good at cutting but I knew the material could get me there with its performance.
Damascus is not a product, it is a process, and because of this, depending on a multitude of variables from steel selection to the makers skill level, there are some mixes that are bad, some that are good and some that are pretty impressive. I have found that the material is “different” than a single steel, whether those differences are better or worse is up to the individual, but they are there.
One needs to carefully choose the correct steels for compatibility and the properties desired. Combining steels that have radically different heat treatment requirements will invariably lead to compromises and a lesser end product. I have testing data to back up the observations that show some mixes can exceed the two parent steels in certain property gains, but there will be trade-offs. For example, my favorite mix of O-1/L6 will outperform most other mixes I have tested but it is ornery to weld up and work with, and not for the beginner or faint of heart, while W-2 or 1095 mixed with 15n20 will come in a close second without many of the same headaches.
By far the best combination for user friendliness, fool proof nature and performance along with pretty, is 1084/15n20. Totally compatible in the heat treat and forging this mix will also give you a beautiful contrast. It is what I use when I need to look like an expert for a demo. At home I weld up the O-1/L6 and deal with its issues to get the end performance I like, but in the end I get cutting advantages in certain materials as well as more homogenous hardness readings than I would get from either O-1 or L6 by themselves.
This is a very wide and complicated topic, and after spending most of my life studying it I can say that there are no clear “yes” or “no” answers regarding Damascus steel.