Daniel Gentile, a bladesmith in Switzerland, recently posted a video online demonstrating many of the steps involved in the production of Damascus – or pattern-welded steel.
Those of you who know me are aware that I am also a Bladesmith and I studied under four separate American Bladesmith Society Master Bladesmiths, Joe Flournoy, Mike Williams, James Cook and Steve Dunn.
Among my courses of study, Damascus production was the toughest. There are only a few hundred people on the planet that can make this stuff, and once you make a billet of it you still need to be able to turn it into an actual finished blade and then a completed knife.
For those of you that are not completely familiar with what we’re talking about, Damascene (or Damascus) steel is an advanced form of blacksmithing, developed over 1,500 years ago, recognizable by a distinctive pattern on the metal surface. The look comes from stratified layers of steel with varying compositions that have been etched to reveal distinctive swirl patterns of light-colored regions on nearly black backgrounds. Damascene, which has always been rare, went through three golden ages before it became a lost art.
In the early Iron ages military armorers discovered that certain materials could be mixed with iron to make it harder or tougher. Hard metals would hold an edge easily, but shatter on impact. Tough metals would flex to avoid breakage, but would not retain a sharp cutting edge. It was discovered that by blending hard and soft metals together a blade could be created which had superior cutting and piercing capabilities, yet could easily flex during battle. For this reason damascene patterned blades became revered by kings and feared by enemies.
Because of the inherent strength of pattern welded Damascus steel, and the fact that nations rose and fell based upon the technology of their weapons, the method of manufacture was a secret closely guarded by Bladesmiths. Over time; however, the smiths who knew about the technique died out without passing it on to their apprentices.
Today, it is estimated that only a few hundred people retain the knowledge to produce Damascus steel; for this reason most people will never hear of, much less see a work of art containing forged Damascene.
Here now, is Daniel’s excellent video. Keep in mind that the narrator is Swiss so there is a bit of an accent. If you have questions about this process feel free to drop a comment and I’ll answer them.
I’m glad I stumbled across this while searching for Creative Zen Vision W info. Good video. I don’t suppose you could explain, in layman terms, what would be the general difference between the Damascus process described in the video vs. the folding that Japanese sword smiths used for their rather famous blades. I am not a blade smith myself but do have a few combat blades about and hope to make my own sword one day.
Scotty,
That is a great question. Essentially we’re talking about the same thing when we talk about ancient Japanese sword steel, ancient Damascus Wootz steel, and modern folded Damascus. The only difference is really in the exactness of the material composition.
In ancient times, they had to use the trial and error method over a period of decades or centuries to develop sources for the raw materials for the steel. They didn’t know it then, but they were looking for about 99% iron plus 1% carbon to make a strong blade.
Adding other trace materials to the mix will change the characteristics of the steel by adding rust resistance, toughness, or other things we look for. Of course, too much or too little of anything and you’ve got a crappy blade.
Now days, we just call up our specialty steel supplier and order a few pieces of 1095 high-carbon steel and a few pieces of 15N20 stainless, and we’ve got the perfect mix without all the searching and digging.
The heating, forging and folding processes used are the same as they have been for 1,700 years. Of course now we have power hammers instead of apprentices to beat the steel, and we use gas forges instead of coal.
Hope that answers your question. If you have an interest in Bladesmithing you may want to subscribe for updates as I’ll be adding more videos and other articles pretty soon.
John
Very interesting, thanks. The narrator also mentioned the two types of steel he used and I think they’re the same as you mention above. However, in the video he appeared to have 6 or 7 pieces of differently colored steel welded together. Perhaps it was just the lighting on the cut.
It would be interesting to know if the methodology you describe evolved in parallel or if there was some common seed that both European and far eastern branches came from.
Thanks for your answer!
You’ve got good eyes Scotty. He did indeed have several different pieces of steel welded together in his initial stack. We call this a “billet”.
What he has done is taken the two different types of steel, one plain and one with chromium, and has stacked them together in an alternating stack. The manner in which the different types of steel are stacked and how they are folded during forging will determine the outcome of the pattern on the steel.
It appears that Daniel started with 7 layers of alternating pieces. Once he forge welds these into a single billet he will then draw it out on the power hammer. This consists of squashing it down to about 1/2 the height and twice the length. He then cuts it in half and fold it over it’s self.
When it is folded over, the 7 layers become 14 layers. We typically repeat this process until the steel has around 300 layers. In this case he will probably go to either 224 layers or 448 (7,14,28,56,112,224,448). The more layers the finer the detail in the Damascus, but if you keep going too long you eventually mash it all up into basically a new hybrid piece of steel and you can’t see any delineation.
In ancient times the patterns in the Damascus were caused by impurities in the steel. They didn’t set out to do this on purpose, it just happened. Today we control the patterns very closely and they mostly serve a decorative purpose.
As far as I know, the Eastern and Western processes formed independantly. Damascus steel was first produced around 300 a.d. and it was unique throughout the world for most of modern history. Japanese swords are much newer and rarely contain actual Damascus patterns. Instead what they contain are quench lines as a result of a differential hardening technique developed by the Japanese.
John
Very exciting stuff. Really glad I found your site. I feel like going out and renting some time on a forge :D
hey guys,
glad you like the video… I actually wasn’t aware that it had spread so far,…
the different colors of the steel pieces are just made by the creative use of a marking-pen… this way I guess it was easier for the video-viewers, especially for someone who has never made damascus befor, to actualy realize that the billet consists of different steels.
any questions… feel free to mail me (see http://www.ferrum.cc)
Daniel
Daniel,
Thanks for checking in. It’s a great video you put together and I’m glad you did it so I don’t have to.:-)
Excellent idea on using the marker to allow people to better see the different layers. And those are some beautiful blades you’re forging over there!
If you ever decide to take a trip to the US let me know and we can arrange to introduce you to the Bladesmithing scene here. I’m in Dallas, TX but the center of the Bladesmithing world is in Arkansas about 4 hours drive from my home.
Take care,
John
I enjoyed the video and ferrum.cc pages. I’d like to know if there are any more knives on sale or is it always a custom made order? What would be the price range for Your knives? Thanks.
CS,
I’m not sure if you are asking me about the price range for my knives, or Daniel’s? I’m guessing you are asking me since Daniel has some on his Web site.
Mine range from $300-$1,000 depending on complexity, and yes they are always custom made to order. Each one takes me between 20-80 hours of manual labor, so the hourly rate still sucks. I have a 1 year wait list as well.
John
my stuff… well it’s always custom made… sometimes I make my own designs and put those out for sale on the website too…
price range is within 300$ to 2500$ dependeing on materials, complexity, size…
Delivery times range from a few days up to a few month…
shoot me an email (gentile@ferrum.cc)… if you want to know more ;)
Daniel