Gallery: Tri-laminate style Damascus Knives

I am pleased to be able to offer, to my customers, blades of tri-laminate style Damascus steel. I make this Damascus by layering a billet consisting of 01 tool steel & Nickel in a ratio of 10 to 1 (i.e., ten parts 01 tool steel with one part Nickel). When the billet is done, I cut two pieces off of it and stack them with a piece of 01 tool steel between them, and forge weld them together. Then I draw the piece to the desired thickness and length. These Damascus blades are superior in several ways. First, with the Nickel as the contrasting material in the Damascus, the blade will always show a bright contrast. I used to make Damascus steel using two contrasting high-carbon tool steels, one of which contained Nickel. Such Damascus steel showed very good contrast and cut very well, but when such knives are used to cut certain foods such as tomatoes and fruit and cooked meat, they will take on a uniform dark grey-black patina that almost completely obscures the blade pattern. This patina can be removed and the pattern renewed, but--who wants to do this in the middle of a hunt. I have made a number of hunting knives for gentlemen who hunt Africa and these clients don't just want something to cut their steak with or to skin an animal; they want a conversation piece and in the middle of a hunt, they do not want to have to refurbish their blade in order to retain its conversation status. Secondly, the quality 01 tool steel that I use in these blades is hardened to a high Rockwell for very good edge retention and 01 is easy to sharpen compared to steels with a high chromium content. Thirdly, 01 responds beautifully to the marquench heat-treating method, utilizing molten salts, which results in a full-hardened stress-free blade. I consider 01 tool steel to be a superior blade steel and I am proud to be able to offer it to my customers in this Nickel Damascus San-Mai steel. I list its composition here: 0.90 - 1.00 Carbon 1.00 Manganese 0.50 Chromium 0.50 Tungsten 0.30 Vanadium