I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I didn't realize they made Damascus steel razors in Pakistan:
CUSTOM HANDMADE Damascus Steel RAZOR with Sheath & Box - eBay (item 170382124342 end time Sep-14-09 18:00:11 PDT)
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I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I didn't realize they made Damascus steel razors in Pakistan:
CUSTOM HANDMADE Damascus Steel RAZOR with Sheath & Box - eBay (item 170382124342 end time Sep-14-09 18:00:11 PDT)
$39.99 for Damascus with GENUINE leather case and box via Buy It Now...
Make our time?
Someone set us up the bomb?
All our base are belong to them?
I remember seeing other questionable Damascus blades on ebay. The titles were something about the number of layers of folded steel. I don't know if anyone actually bought one to see if they were for real, but I suspect they were knockoffs. When it comes to a "Damascus" blade, I'm suspicious of anything that's not from a reliable source.
Well Wootz and Damascus steel came from India, Pakistan originally and they sold billets to the middle east where they made swords etc, so they invented it!
Not saying that that one is any good of course, but that's a fair old chopper they are selling there.
Gareth
You'll think I am crazy but I just bought it.
The listing explicitly mentions you can shave with it. The item comes with PayPal buyer protection so if you can't hone it to shaving sharpness I'll put in a claim with PayPal.
I'll keep you guys posted.
Way to take one for the team Kees...:) yes keep us posted on your purchase.
Seems interesting, he says it has 58-60 rockwell hardness.
Experience suggests the razor at that price is too good to be true, but I hope Kees doesn't end up having to chase Paypal for a refund. Of course if the razor ends up getting a good review from Kees then that seller won't know what hit him when the rest of the SRP members flood his auctions. http://smilies.vidahost.com/contrib/sally/lol.gif
Good luck Kees:gl: I hope you don't need it but I have a feeling you will:(
From what I have seen the layers in damascus steel cause micro chipping when honed because of the two different metals being on the same bevel. Zowada got around this by making the layers parralel and even so the edge was all the same metal, Bill Ellis opted to just weld a seperate peice to the bottom of the damascus and put an edge on that. This razor doesn't seem to do either so it may be sharp at first but I think when it is time to hone it it will cause micro chipping.
Again Kees good luck 0_o
Did anyone watch the forging process on the e-bay site? Pretty interesting.
http://www.ranaas.com/personal007_fi...al_forging.mpg
Indeed! I like how you can hear the workers coughing because they don't have proper ventilation for the gas motor powering the metal hammer (I don't know the proper name). Knives, razors, toxic fumes, and heavy machinery that can crush every bone in your hand instantly :tu
sorry if I sound mean spirited the damn sound of that engine gave me a headache:rant:
A true sweat shop!
I think it is called a drop forge. Imagine what it could do to your hand! Liquify it, probably. Anyway, how can it be a sweat shop..they had one fan, didn't they? No eye protection evident on anyone. Guess there is no Pakistan OSHA to regulate worker safety. None of these concerns would affect the quality of the steel however. Hope the razors take and hold a good edge. If so, I will buy one too, with only slight shame. Thanks again for taking a probable hit for the SRP team!
Wow, that process is OLD SCHOOL
Aw that wasn't so bad! A building that looks like it was built around 40AD, workers hammering steel on the dirt floor, lots of flowing robes or whatever they're called that will ignite quickly if the worker get too close to the heat, no ventilation - but there was a fan! Definitely had a fan there! Yessiree Bob! They take care of their craftsmen there!
Kidding aside, they're certainly going "old school" but I suspect it's more accurately called "on the cheap". But, that would explain why (if the blades are actually good) why they can charge so little. There's not much in the way of overhead there!
Thanks for the video link Turbine! Well Kees I suspect a lot of us are hoping for the best for you and are thankful that you're going to venture into the murky depths of Pakistani Damascus steel for us all. It sure would be nice to discover a source for Damascus that can take an edge and hold it for a loooong time - all at a very nice price.
Quite right! The method of manufacture may well be old-school, but something tells me that if we saw a Japanese man in a home-forge clouting away at red-hot bit of steel many members would be swooning in ecstacy...
I do hope Kees gets a bargain, but I am doubtful about the smoothness of a simple damascus edge - meant to be a bit serrated if the pattern is all over the place, isn't it?
Looks more like pattern-welded than damascus to me - but I didn't watch the video - my Firefox browser wouldn't play it directly but wanted me to save it as a file. My PC has been hit by too many viruses for me to do that...
Maybe it will make a nice display piece. :confused:
I hope it works out. Thats a fair bit of money to throw down on a chance...
I too would be very interesting to see how this turns out
Best wishes with that
I saw one of those, but it had been rescaled with a set of wood scales and then it had a "Solingen" silver inlay glued on top of the scales a little while back on Ebay. The guy was trying to sell it as a Solingen damascus razor!:(
For $60, I'd have taken a flyer on it as well.
But then again, I also like Double Arrows...:)
If they turn out to be good blades. I think one would look just wild if you did your DA stuff on them. Love to see it (hint).
Razor arrived today! 5 days since I bought it, so one big hurray for Pakistani efficiency during ramadan!
Very light-weight razor, genuine pattern-welded steel. Pins are ground flush with the scales, pivot pin is tight. One scale is a bit narrower than the other, blade centers nicely. Blade well oiled, slightly over 8/8, about 1/2 hollow, spine has some warpage, cutting edge hardly. Bevel looks even, no microchipping under the microscope, coarse scratch pattern, spine has no honewear so it looks to me like the person who sharpened it knew what he was doing, just did not have or use the high grit hones needed to get a shaveable edge. Blade is not shave-ready, with a lot of pressure it will cut a few of my arm hairs.
I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to woods, scale wood looks similar to the wood used for the cheap hand-made Indian and Pakistani furniture that you can buy here in many discount stores.
Red imitation leather box looks as in the pics, has a strong artificial leather smell that, mixed with the smell of the oil makes it a smelly razor.
Sheath is made of genuine leather, has a little strap at the back that allows you to carry it on your belt.
So all in all 1st impression is not bad.
I'll take some pictures in daylight and then I'll first strop it and see what happens. If no good (what I expect) I'll hone it and see what happens. I'll keep you posted.
:)YAY!!!:)
Don't submit your face to that abuse:nono:. You and I both know that stropping is not going to get that razor in line.
Get out your hones and get it whipped into shape, and then, and only then strop it and shave.
:gl:
Over 8/8? sweet!
Sweeeet!
Can you post some pics of the rash you get if you try to shave after stropping?
Hahaha
Well, you have to remember that these dudes don't shave at all!
Hope the spine is even enough so that bevel setting is not a real bear!
I'm definitely interested in seeing how this goes
Thank you for keeping us updated kees I am looking forward to seeing what happens:gl:
Just watched the clip and the narrator is shouting in Finnish or Estonian.
I don't speak them but in Sweden we hear enough Finnish to recognize it.
'Tis finnish. Here's an approximate translation since it was quite hard to hear what they were saying and since not everything translates wordperfectly into english. Obviously, the man wasn't professional commentator or even making try to comment documentary stile. My guess is that this is just a home video.
At furnace:"Now this is real handiwork/manual labor"
At furnace: "They are beginning the forging of the Sampo, and hopefully it is a contraption, which brings endlessly ...<coughing>". In finnish mythology, The Kalevala, the Sampo was a magical mill that turns infinite wealth.
When the man runs with the steel from the furnace: "There's quite a hurry here"
At the hammer: "From here, the whole things starts"
Steel is returned to the furnace: "That man throws the hot piece back to the furnace and throws some more coal on it." "Let it sit for a while. I don't really understand why there's this big/horrible diesel-engine running, but I guess it makes current so they can straighten something" (might have misheard the straightening bit)
Persons: "The host and buddies watch how they make things here"
"Looks great!"
"Yeah!"
The diesel engine is perhaps powering Thor's hammer and finger mashing machine? I don't think you simply plug that beast into a wall outlet....
Thanks for the translation!
Does NOT negotiate with Terrorists
Are the scales decent enough to put a real blade in? I've seen that thing on ebay many times, and that was the only use I could think of for it.
I was on a trip all this past week but tried to bring up SRP on the iPhone a few times to see how this went. Kees I'll say it again, thanks for jumping into this fray for all of our benefits without using a net so to speak. I can't wait to see how that monster hones up - or if you can actually hone it to a shave ready state. If it works out and (big if) you can get it sharp without a full day's work, and if it holds the edge for a few shaves I'll jump in as well for a few of them! Let us know brother!
The good: razor arrived within a week despite ramadan.
The bad: it does not take an edge that you can shave with. I managed to get it to shave some hairs off my arm but not a single whisker.
The ugly: how the razor looks now. I honed it without taping the spine. It is almost a wedge, I needed to remove quite some metal to have a bevel along the entire cutting edge. Edge is serrated when seen under the mike.
The good?: I wrote Mr Rana and he apologized saying he appreciated the review I gave him of how I had honed it, said he had not expected anyone to use it for shaving and offered to replace it with a better made razor of the next batch.
I have had some fun trying to prove the impossible, still having swarf to prove it under may nails!