Knowledge about Damascus steel

At present, Damascus steel is a general term for folded forged composite steel. It does not have a fixed steel material. The Damascus steel generally referred to is modern Damascus steel. The following is a detailed explanation of Damascus steel that is often misunderstood or controversial by users.

Wootz steel (ancient Damascus steel)

Wootz steel is a special steel produced in ancient India. In ancient times, it was also called “black iron” and “meteorite iron”. The product has natural irregular crystal patterns, also known as Muhammad patterns. Wootz steel is a natural metal. If it is processed, it still needs forging and special process support. Due to the special metal structure of this steel, the sharpness, hardness and retention of the swords made are very good. However, there are very few natural Wootz steels at present. There are also a small number of Wootz steel sword products, but it is difficult to restore the original performance and process of the ancient Indian Wootz steel swords. Later, people gradually invented the manufacturing process of crucible steel and tried to imitate Wootz steel. Then there was Damascus steel.
Regarding the loss of technology, many modern theories have made bold explanations for the decline of this steel, including: the destruction of trade routes that provide metal necessities, the lack of a small amount of other elements in the metal, and the loss of knowledge of sword-making technology due to private possession or lack of inheritance. Later, the researchers confirmed this through metal element analysis, and the evidence of nanotube structure found in Wootz steel supported this hypothesis: the precipitation of nanotubes in Wootz steel may be caused by a special manufacturing process, and because the manufacturing technology and metal raw materials have changed too much, it is difficult to replicate Damascus steel again. It is also possible that the Wootz steel swords made in the past were selected from a small number of better quality finished products for trade after a series of tests.

Damascus steel (mostly refers to modern Damascus steel)

Damascus steel , there is no specific reliable source for the name of Damascus steel in the relevant literature. The current widespread saying is that these metals were sold to the city of Damascus (located in today’s Syria) and used to refine weapons, namely Damascus swords (or Damascus knives), and then got their name. This is a manufacturing process that uses a variety of steels to weld, fold, and forge, and then pickle to corrode the carbon elements on the metal surface to make it show texture. Usually at least two different steels are selected, carbon steel + stainless steel, or special textures are pre-made, such as the shape of animals or human faces, and then composite processing is performed, which is also called Damascus steel.

Carbon Steel Damascus Steel

Carbon Steel Damascus Steel is a type of modern Damascus Steel. The common appearance color is gray-silver or silver-black. Carbon Steel Damascus Steel is made of carbon steel + stainless steel. After pickling, the appearance is more distinct. It has both aesthetics and practicality. The steel core is mostly stainless steel to provide better sharpness and retention, while carbon steel provides better toughness. It is currently used for artistic swords.

Stainless Steel Damascus Steel

Stainless Steel Damascus Steel is also a type of modern Damascus Steel. Stainless Steel Damascus Steel is a new type of steel based on Damascus Steel. It is made of two or more stainless steels through folding and forging. The most obvious difference from carbon steel is the appearance after pickling. The texture of Stainless Steel Damascus Steel is not very obvious, and the overall color is steel and light gray. This type of steel is currently used for kitchen knives. It is durable, not easy to rust, safe, sharp, durable, and beautiful.

Swedish Powder Steel (Swedish Powder Damascus Steel)

Swedish powder steel is a modern powder steel process, strictly speaking, it is a powder stainless steel. It is called Swedish Powder Damascus Steel because it has the texture of Damascus steel. This process does not require the traditional folding forging, welding and other complex processes of Damascus steel. It only needs to be manufactured according to the required proportion of steel through powder metallurgy process. Because the texture cannot be controlled artificially, the texture of this steel after pickling is more random, and the aesthetics are not as good as modern Damascus steel. Personally, I think the performance of this steel is slightly higher than that of ordinary modern Damascus steel.

Pattern steel or composite steel

For most people, Damascus steel is also collectively referred to as pattern steel or composite steel. Pattern steel is a general term for steel with textured patterns. I personally think this is a preliminary understanding of low-end Damascus, and it is a collective term for Damascus steel that has been abused. Strictly speaking, composite steel or pattern steel cannot be regarded as Damascus steel. The first choice is Damascus steel, which is made of more than two types of steel and is folded many times. Taking the Japanese family crest as an example, it has 67 layers. According to the regulations of the ABS Bladesmith Association, the Damascus steel produced by bladesmiths must be at least 200 layers high. For some bladesmiths and merchants, in order to promote their products, they also call this type of steel “Damascus steel”. The number of layers does not meet the minimum requirements, and what is more, it is completely wrong to call etching patterns or laser patterns Damascus steel.

About price

As for the production of Damascus steel itself, due to factors such as different original steel materials, different production processes, different processing methods, different textures, etc., there is a large gap in the price. Generally speaking, if the design is more complex, the texture is more symmetrical, and the original steel is better, the price will be higher. For example, if S30V steel core, VG10 steel core, S90V steel core, CPM154 steel core is used, even if the texture is roughly the same, the price will vary. The finished products produced by it are also affected by various factors such as brand, designer, external publicity, etc. There are also large differences, so we can often see that even if the same Damascus steel product is used, there is a large difference in pricing. Since most Damascus steel manufacturers and individual knifemakers consider their own rights and intellectual property rights, as well as unique designs and product performance, not all Damascus steel manufacturers or knifemakers will announce what kind of steel they are made of. They are all collectively referred to as Damascus steel.