[Sca-cooks] Damascus Question

[Johnna Holloway]

On one of my other lists, this question was posed
regarding the making and sale of Damascus knives within
the SCA....

Would anyone on SCA-Cooks care to comment and let Danr
know what you think as regards price and market?

You can reply directly to him at:
irontree at visi.com

Johnnae
---------------------

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