Thread: What's the deal with these Damascus blades??

Today I got a DMTEF or whatever the 1kish one is, so I went to work. I stepped up to three layers of tape and got the bevel set. Off of either my Norton 1k or the DMTEF, I can get the razor to shave arm hairs. Then I move up to the Naniwa 5k. I tried my normal circles with pressure, circles with no pressure, X's pattern and the razor would no longer cut arm hair. I tried circles with no pressure and X's with no pressure and the razor would not cut arm hair. I tried just X's with no pressure and the razor would not cut arm hairs. (In between each attepmt, I reset the bevel so that it would cut arm hairs.)

When I look closely at the edge with my naked eye under a lamp after trying to cut arm hair off the 5k, I can see where the edge is crumbling.

I don't really see any point in trying anything else - the edge is not failing because it's building a bur or microchipping or anything - the steel simply will not hold a fine edge.

My verdict is that this razor is not suitable for shaving.