Damascus Knife With Knife Stand

The Damascus Knife

There is no quick or truly reliable answer as to what really defines a Damascus blade.  In fact, the name does not come from the city of Damascus, Syria.  It is believed that the Damascus blade originated in India and perhaps Sri Lanka.  Metallurgists who did research on it, at one time or another, believed that the original steel and the source of it no longer exist and so is the process of producing the distinctive wavy, water-like pattern of the blade. Today's Damascus blades produced with modern processes are supposed to be completely different from the original way of making Damascus steel. Needless to say, original Damascus blades that date back to the 1500s and  remain in collectors' hands and beyond the reach of ordinary knife enthusiasts like me. 

So, I settled for the next best thing - a bare blade knife kit; mass produced by forging two different kinds of steel, welded and folded over as many as 32 to 64 times. The series of folds under high temperature and pressure by hammering produced the distinctive wavy patterns. I read that that is not necessarily how the old Damascus blades were made. 

I bought one online. For the wooden handle ("scales"), I used a section of scrap saved from hardwood flooring material of white oak.  I picked the scrap with the most distinctive grain pattern. Shown below is blade that came honed and sharp.

I've done this before in a few knife projects in previous blogs. One difference this time is that I had the pins hidden between the scales by not drilling all the way through.

For the knife stand I used scrap wood as well and a see-through acrylic (Plexiglass) face.

Shown with earlier knife stand projects (from earlier blogs) where I also used acrylic (Plexiglass).