![]() ![]() It is a full-tang fixed blade – that means the blade goes all the way through the handle. The handle is made out of buffalo horn, it is dark brown/black in color. The bolster is stainless steel, and the pins are also stainless. With a blade slightly over 6-inches long, and an overall length of 13-inches, it is quite a fixed blade. This one is marked “Valley Forge” and has a stock number VFD-76B/H. It was made in Pakistan, and they are turning out some great knives these days, at bargain prices. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this fighter. That is quite a deal, and I wasn’t expecting much for my money. However, they do offer some really good knives at bargain prices. Many, but not all of their knives are rather inexpensive and the poor quality shows. If you have watched their infomercials on television, then you will recognize this style knife. The Damascus blade under review today came from Cutlery Corner and that might raise some red flags. I once had a folding pocket knife that boasted 500 layers of steel – I didn’t see that is was any stronger than other blades, so take it for what it is worth. In the past, a Damascus steel blade would run you about $100 per inch – and that’s a lot of money. I don’t know if that makes the blade any stronger or not. In the past, some custom knife makers boasted that their blades had 500 or more layers before it was shaped. The knife under review here has about 200 layers – and that is more than sufficient to give the steel added strength. Some Damascus blades had folded over on themselves hundreds of times during this process. When the steel is pounded, it is then folded over onto itself, and the process starts all over again. This used to be done by hand, but today it is a little bit easier with automated trip-hammers. The steel is heated – red hot – and then pounded. What is involved in a Damascus blade is a forging process. Most modern Damascus steel knives are made out of 1095 carbon steel, with a little bit of chrome mixed in. The development of this steel began perhaps as early as 700 AD, but most point to closer to 900 AD. First, a little bit of history is called for:ĭamascus steel-bladed knives go back to Damascus, Syria some centuries ago. Damascus steel-bladed knives used to be all the rage and it was pretty much restricted to the custom knife-makers’ realm. it is a nice fixed-blade fighting knife, made in Pakistan out of Damascus steel, and marketed by Valley Forge Cutlery. It is now again possible to buy items made of true Damascus steel (not pattern welded).Today, I’m going to cover something a little bit different in the cutlery world. His paper on the topic can be found at the JOM site. Verhoeven rediscovered the composition that would create this steel. Because the swordsmiths did not understand the nature of the material they used, when that material changed Damascus steel was lost. Because of the new composition, the new ingots could not be forged into Damascus steel. These new ingots had slightly different impurities than the prior ingots. In the 19th Century, the mining region where those ingots came from changed. The swordsmiths got their steel ingots from India. The "secret" that produced such high quality weapons was not in the technique of the swordsmiths, but rather on the composition of the material they were using. The reason it disappeared remained a mystery until just a few years ago.Īs it turns out, the technique was not lost, it just stopped working. This steel had been produced for 11 centuries, and in just about a generation, the means of its manufacture was entirely lost. Though there was a demand for Damascus steel, in the 19th century it stopped being made. However, they could not discover the secret, and could not make it. Many people in Europe saw these steels and tried to recreate the effect through processing. Since the steel was supposed to be initially created in Damascus, the steel became known as "Damascus" steel. The blades of these weapons also had a characteristic wavy pattern. Europeans who saw this feat were astounded: their weapons were not capable of anything close to this. It is claimed that one of these blades could cleanly slice through a falling silk scarf. The steel was harder and could hold an edge longer than other steels. The superiority of these weapons came from the steel that they used to fashion them. ![]() Around 500 AD, swordsmiths of the Middle East began to produce knives and swords with strength and cutting abilities unequalled by any other civilization of the time. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |