Damasteel blade for under $75?!

[archangel]

Can this be real? Damasteel blade knife for $75?
https://www.bladehq.com/item--CIVIVI-Na ... ock--96907

Made in China, I see that. But still, that's nowhere near to any other Damasteel blade knife price I've ever seen elsewhere... :eek:

[The Deacon]

I think the ad is wrong. Price does seem low for Damasteel, and the pattern looks more like Japanese damascus than any of Damasteel's. Plus CIVIVI's own website describes the Naja's blade material as "Chinese Damascus".

http://www.civivi.com/plus/view.php?aid=106

[archangel]

Thanks Paul. I've seen many non Damasteel low price Damascus blades in webshops. This one sure looks pretty good for those. At least the stock pic does.

[The Deacon]

Glad to be of help, Michael. Knife's not my cup of tea, but it does appear to be well enough made. To my eyes, the "Chinese Damascus" looks too much like Japanese Damascus. The "oil on water" randomness of it has never impressed me, I prefer a more organized Damascus patterns. There would also be the question of whether the Naja's damascus is stainless damascus.

Do think someone should advise BHQ to change the knife's description.

[archangel]

Do think someone should advise BHQ to change the knife's description.

I'll do it.

[archangel]

It's now also available at KC. Like Paul stated, this is no Damasteel blade. Will be interesting to see if BladeHQ will correct their incorrect item description. I sent them an email and asked them to do it.

[soc_monki]

Not a fan of damasteel, or whatever it is. I do like nice damascus, but don't know if I would carry a knife with it!

I have heard that Civivi makes good budget knives, and the Isham Plethiros just dropped yesterday, and I ordered one right away. Loved the look of it. the Anthropos interested me, but something about the blade shape and handle just kept me from pulling the trigger. The Plethiros however...I had to snag one. We'll see how it is when it gets here (supposedly Monday).

[archangel]

"Michael,
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately I would not be able to change the items description as the specifications from the manufacturer do specify the item is damasteel. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Seth L.
Customer Service Supervisor"

KC staff must be smarter, are more interested in the truth...

[archangel]

They saved themselves:

"Michael,
Thank you for your response. I apologize for the mishap as I am seeing our products team looked into this and it appears we were incorrect and the item is in fact not made of Damasteel and is instead just a Chinese Damascus. I appreciate you notifying us of this issue and the listing has been updated now.
Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Seth L.
Customer Service Supervisor'

[SpyderEdgeForever]

What is the strongest, toughest, sharpest, and most corrosion resistant Damascus steel out there?

[Xplorer]

The way you pose the question makes it difficult if not impossible to answer directly. I will say, if you haven't checked out Damasteel's Damacore DC18N you should. I am not a fan of Damascus style blades because their performance is generally inferior to the best super steels available today, and I prefer performance over aesthetics. That said, I was blown away when I found out what Damasteel is making DC18N out of. It's a San Mai construction that consists of outer layers of Damascus style patterned steel (made from RWL34 and PMC27) surrounding a core of N11X (Damasteel got a license to make Uddeholm's Vanax S.C. and they are calling it N11X).

An RWL 34 Damascus surrounding a Vanax core is certainly the most corrosion resistant Damascus type of product available today. It also has edge holding ability that it better than S30V and toughness is better than any other P.M. grade stainless.

The only problem is the price ...a piece that is .160" thick 2" wide and 12" long is $775.00 :eek: :eek: :eek: .

I recently received a very small off-cut to test. I just finished profiling and surfacing it into a little "keychain / neck knife" and heat treated it yesterday. I had to make it into something...after all, that's a $200 "scrap" piece of metal right there :D . I plan to grind the bevel today or tomorrow.

[TomAiello]

Wow. For both the material and the price.

[archangel]

The way you pose the question makes it difficult if not impossible to answer directly. I will say, if you haven't checked out Damasteel's Damacore DC18N you should. I am not a fan of Damascus style blades because their performance is generally inferior to the best super steels available today, and I prefer performance over aesthetics. That said, I was blown away when I found out what Damasteel is making DC18N out of. It's a San Mai construction that consists of outer layers of Damascus style patterned steel (made from RWL34 and PMC27) surrounding a core of N11X (Damasteel got a license to make Uddeholm's Vanax S.C. and they are calling it N11X).

An RWL 34 Damascus surrounding a Vanax core is certainly the most corrosion resistant Damascus type of product available today. It also has edge holding ability that it better than S30V and toughness is better than any other P.M. grade stainless.

The only problem is the price ...a piece that is .160" thick 2" wide and 12" long is $775.00 :eek: :eek: :eek: .

I recently received a very small off-cut to test. I just finished profiling and surfacing it into a little "keychain / neck knife" and heat treated it yesterday. I had to make it into something...after all, that's a $200 "scrap" piece of metal right there :D . I plan to grind the bevel today or tomorrow.

Wow indeed. If you ask me, there's enough potential for a really useful cutting tool in that piece of steel. And the looks of that pattern... To die for!! I'd say it's worth $200, without a doubt, for such an exclusive steel. You're a lucky guy...

You must post a report of the finished product!

[ZrowsN1s]

Dang that's expensive.

[The Deacon]

Pattern is attractive, thickness and price, not so much. I'm lucky, I guess, in that I value appearance more than the ultimate in performance, so I'd be perfectly happy with regular Damasteel blades.

[The Meat man]

That's a beautiful piece of steel Chad!

Whew, but expensive. :eek:
I'd love to see the finished product, when you're done with it.

[Xplorer]

Bear in mind that the piece in the picture isn't etched. It's just surfaced to 1000 grit to make sure everything is perfectly flat before I grind it. Once it's ground and etched it will look a lot nicer. :)

[The Deacon]

Bear in mind that the piece in the picture isn't etched. It's just surfaced to 1000 grit to make sure everything is perfectly flat before I grind it. Once it's ground and etched it will look a lot nicer. :)

I realize that as well as that, depending on whether you grind the blade full flat, saber, or hollow will change the look of the pattern to a greater or lesser extent. That said, I prefer a relatively low contrast etch, like SETO used on the kitchen knives of theirs that Spyderco distributed a while back, to the high contrast etch Spyderco's Japanese maker tends to use.

[Xplorer]

...I prefer a relatively low contrast etch...

Me too. Because of the composition of the 3 steels in this mix it's takes more to get a high contrast than usual. In fact, while most damascus style steels are etched in a Ferric Chloride solution this one needs a heated Hydrochloric Acid solution. Since it's 3 different steel compositions (and one of them is a Nitrogen steel) instead of the normal 2 steels in a regular damascus pattern this one produces 3 colors. RWL34 stays bright, PMC27 turns black and Vanax (N11X) turns gray.
My plan is to hand rub the bevels to 2500 grit and etch it just enough to see all three colors without having to shift it back and forth in the light.

I'm anxious as can be to get it done..but the reality of life is I have to get the knife I'm working on done first..then I can get to playing with my new toy :D .

Best regards,
Chad

[Xplorer]

Since a couple of you asked to see the finished product, here it is... rather..here's a set of pics that shows the progression from "off-cut scrap" to my new EDC.

This is the piece of Damacore that I received from my friend Shawn at Triple B Handmade. It was too small for any of my existing knife designs but I had to make something out of it so I drew a blade that used as much of this piece as possible and went with it.


Profiled and surfaced..


Fresh out of heat treating..


Freezing the water molecules out of the air while it warms back up to room temp after cryo..


Ground and polished..


Etched and sharpened..




I thought about making a neck/knife sheath but decided to make a custom wallet/sheath so I can use it just as easily wearing a suit as I can an other time.



Thank you to my friend Shawn for sending me that beautiful piece of Damacore! It's my new favorite toy :D :D .

Best regards,
Chad