Thread: Fake damascus?

Some reason the pattern that would make this razor appear to be damascus looks fake. All of the other damascus blades that I've seen are entirely damascus, you can see the pattern from the layering of the steel all over the razor - unlike this one it's only on the face of the razor. The rear doesn't have the pattern nor does the tang at all. Looks pretty fake on the face as well. Anyone else notice that? Is it phony?

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-MINT-GEN...QQcmdZViewItem

Looks to me like a damascus-like pattern was etched on to the front side of the blade, which is regular steel.

Well to be strictly honest about it all razors that call themselves Damascus are phony. Even the 'real ones" are patterned or layered steel. The one you mention is certainly just a surface pattern.

While that razor is a real "Damascus" razor, it is not what you are thinking of wrt pattern welded or (if there really are some out there) wootz steel razors.
Bear in mind that with vintage razors the technology for making Wootz was as it were lost. Makers would use the name "Damascus" as a trademark or to imply a particular blade was supposed to be better. It has only been in the last 50 years (or less) that pattern welding has been rediscovered, along with some of the metallurgical secrets of Wootz that had been lost.
I'm sure there are a few here who could give you even more detailed information.
In a nutshell, the razor is not a fake. It is old and "Damascus" is simply the name of it. When the razor was made, nobody knew how to make "real" Damascus anymore.
Hope this helps.
John P.

Originally Posted by JohnP

While that razor is a real "Damascus" razor, it is not what you are thinking of wrt pattern welded or (if there really are some out there) wootz steel razors.
Bear in mind that with vintage razors the technology for making Wootz was as it were lost. Makers would use the name "Damascus" as a trademark or to imply a particular blade was supposed to be better. It has only been in the last 50 years (or less) that pattern welding has been rediscovered, along with some of the metallurgical secrets of Wootz that had been lost.
I'm sure there are a few here who could give you even more detailed information.
In a nutshell, the razor is not a fake. It is old and "Damascus" is simply the name of it. When the razor was made, nobody knew how to make "real" Damascus anymore.
Hope this helps.
John P.

You're right about the wootz, but i'm not so sure that the technique of pattern welding was lost until the last 50 years.

Possibly. I'm not a metallurgist, but I've read various places saying that Bill Moran made the first knife out of it (here in U.S.) for some time in 1970 or so and that it created a real commotion.
I've also read places that said the Germans were making blades of it in WWII but who knows, Solingen got bombed flat as did quite a few other places.

It'd be really interesting however to have a blade made of each that was expendible to the point one could do all sorts of testing on it, then reproduce blades with the information gained.
There probably already is such a site but I'm lazy and about to go to work today....
John P.

Originally Posted by JohnP

While that razor is a real "Damascus" razor, it is not what you are thinking of wrt pattern welded or (if there really are some out there) wootz steel razors.
Bear in mind that with vintage razors the technology for making Wootz was as it were lost. Makers would use the name "Damascus" as a trademark or to imply a particular blade was supposed to be better. It has only been in the last 50 years (or less) that pattern welding has been rediscovered, along with some of the metallurgical secrets of Wootz that had been lost.
I'm sure there are a few here who could give you even more detailed information.
In a nutshell, the razor is not a fake. It is old and "Damascus" is simply the name of it. When the razor was made, nobody knew how to make "real" Damascus anymore.
Hope this helps.
John P.

From my understanding not even Wootz is considered "real" damascus, just the closest thing modern metalurgy has been able to produce.

I fantasize about getting a chunk of a real, antique damascus blade...a few have been cut up for scientific analysis over the years, maybe a chunk of one of those...then having it ground into a razor. Now that would be something

Here is another one on ebay. It's very expensive, so some bidders seem to think it's "real" damascus.

Originally Posted by SteveS

Here is another one on ebay. It's very expensive, so some bidders seem to think it's "real" damascus.

But the razor box says PRICE: $5.00

Geneva Cutlery do a razor called 'The Damascus' I own one , it's by no means made of Damascus steel - think it's just a celebration of it mine is etched with the details of a snake - and is one of the best shavers in my collection ....
This could be of a similar idea ...

I'm trying to get as many Geneva's as I can my hands on _ I can't rate the shave you get from them highly enough ..

Garry