Hello guys. I posted this on another forum and figured I'd share this with you too. This is a project I have been working on, on and off for a couple years now.
This pocket knife was rebuilt with a blade made out of an extra-strength variation of wootz, supposedly identical in both appearance and mechanical properties to historical Damascus! This particular blade has something like a 1.6% carbon content, basic RC hardness in the early 60s and micro carbide fibers with an RC hardness of over 70. I don't know what it's functional hardness is like, but it feels roughly as hard as some of the milling bits I have. In the process of getting the blade to what it is now, and since the heat treat and cryo, it has demonstrated to very easily hold up better then anything else I have seen. Gurber, buck, Kershaw etc. It truly acts like a milling bit that won't break or chip no matter what you do to it. The edge is straight beveled for extra cutting power, so it's potency against other metals, as it is, is probably pretty similar to a Kershaw pocket knife but with a thicker edge like on most store bought knives, i can easily see this thing cutting through a similar kershaw pocket knife with noticeable but minimal edge damage. That's kinda interesting since historical Damascus is famous for doing precisely that against European blades. Generally speaking, it's a knife to grow old with and I have never seen a production/factory knife of any size or quality that I'd even consider trading it for. I have yet to see a match even on aesthetics alone, much less mechanical value.
The edge is straight beveled with a slight clam shell to it (similar to that on genuine Samurai swords) for best balance of strength, cutting and ease of penetration. The edge it's self is sharper then that of a shaving raiser while the ease of penetration is similar to that of a wusthof chef's knife; a little better IMO. It'll probably cut 2/3 through an apple just by dropping the apple on the blade.
Compared to regular store bought blades such as buck and kershaw, what you can expect overall is much greater cutting power for the same strength edge and better wear resistance and much longer edge life as result of the blades overall strength and the micro carbide fibers have a tendency to help replace and/or maintain the serrate pattern acquired from the sharpening when it wears away; supposedly the only element of truth to the
false rumor about folded steel having exceptional cutting abilities, result of "micro serrates" (something that all cutting knives have.
Anyway, after a long wait and well over 60 hours of work, she's finally ready for the pocket. There are still a few more things to do. I want to eventually replace the screws with brass pins and some of the cosmetics and body work is incomplete, though it's only fine tuning and minor reshaping to go.
It looks nicer in person then the pictures depict IMO. It looks like a cross between a lord of the rings blade and a modern super knife.
As one would expect from a Damascus blade, it DOES have a visible pattern on the blade but I was unable to capture it on film. I tried, but it's not my camera that was used to take the pictures and I haven't gotten the ins and outs figured out. The pattern is similar to that on typical pattern welded blade (the ones people usually call Damascus) but it's more intricate and more natural/random. Actually, you can just barely see it in the first image in the second picture if you look at it in 100% but it can be hard to discern from photo/jpg blemish.
I will try and get some video of it on Monday, but it'll be with a lower quality camera.
Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!:
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuIezpI2pJw
This post has been edited by brigadier: April 14th 2009 2:41 AM
April 12th 2009 11:11 AM
