[Ansteorra] For the Cooks - Damascus Steel

[Jhan Knebel]

Forwarded with permission from the Knowne World Apprentice List:

>> Greetings,
>> I have a question for anyone.
>>
>> Background: I have been blacksmithing for many years now and I
reached a
>> milestone. I learned forge welding sometime ago, but recently my
skill
> level
>> with welding reached the point that I am now making Damascus Steel
> billets. It
>> is these billets that are then ground into knives and other items.
For
> those
>> of you that do not know, Damascus steel is layers of different kinds
of
> steel
>> welded together and then repeatedly folded (or cut) and rewelded. The
> more
>> folds you do, the more layers you make. I have read that some
Japanese
> swords
>> had as many 246 layers. (I have never heard of a sword that had 2000
> layers
>> except in the movie Highlander)
>>
>> The Question: I sell ironwork at events and though I like making
Damascus,
> I
>> don't like the idea of making daggers. The idea of making Meat
Cleavers
> and
>> Damascus Chef's Knives however, that is appealing. I know it is a
fine
> line,
>> but that is my comfort level at the moment. I just finished a small
French
>> Chef's Knife. Would people be interested in buying these? Should I
> include
>> these in my stock. They would not be cheap. A 10 inch knife would
take
> over 6
>> hours and cost about $200-$300 dollars depending on how elaborate the
> pattern
>> and the number of layers.
>>
>> I will likely make one for A&S no matter what happens but Damascus is
> fun
>> to do and I would like to do more, but I can't justify doing alot of
it
> unless
>> I can sell it at my booth. Merchanting iron work is my summer job and
I
> have
>> to make moeny at it or get a "real" job. (shiver)
>>
>> Comments welcome.
>>
>> Danr Katlasmiðr
>> www.irontreeworks.com



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