Turkish Twist Damascus razor

This razor was made from A slab of steel I cut from the block of Turkish Twist Damascus I got from my friend Ed Schempp. Ed's a senior knife design guy for Spyderco and very good at making Damascus steel. I had to forge the slab to the correct thickness and length, and then used stock removal to make this razor. I never use stock removal in normal circumstances, but in this case I had to if I wanted to keep the twist pattern the same throughout the entire razor. Forging would distort it.

After etching with ferric chloride I handsanded the blade again to 2000 grit. Originally I had planned to enhance the black and white contrast at that point, but my wife told me to leave it like this. Usually she is right when she says things like that so I did that.

The scales are hybrid stabilized burl cap and colored resin.

Attachment 233141

Attachment 233142

BEAUTY! :tu

not for my taste. :shrug: looks to me mostly as a pakistanian razor.

Nice work Bruno!
I really like the contrast on the scales.

Love it, great work. Looks like the wife was right, again

Damascus like this is made in big blocks using lots of individual twisted bars which are then further manipulated in various ways.

When the block is finished, slabs are cut off running across the grain of the pattern. No matter how it is ground, the pattern will stay the same. Many other types of damascus lose their pattern when hollow ground.

Then I,ll be buying a lot of Pakistanian razors. Tc

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Originally Posted by Oustoura

not for my taste. :shrug: looks to me mostly as a pakistanian razor.

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If you had a Pakistani razor in one hand, and Bruno's in the other, I guarantee you would not say that.

Gorgeous work Bruno.

Nice looks to it!


Mike

Absolutely gorgeous!

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Damascus like this is made in big blocks using lots of individual twisted bars which are then further manipulated in various ways.

When the block is finished, slabs are cut off running across the grain of the pattern. No matter how it is ground, the pattern will stay the same. Many other types of damascus lose their pattern when hollow ground.

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Other then the look of the steel, is there any advantages of having this steel compared to 01?

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Originally Posted by Martin103

Other then the look of the steel, is there any advantages of having this steel compared to 01?

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It's not better than 01, intrinsically. It can be as good as well heat treated 01. It is a thing of beauty, to those bitten by the bug, and it is a demonstration of masterful metalwork. Personally, for a straight razor I would slightly prefer san mai, which is a Japanese style of homogeneous steel sandwiched by pattern welded steel such that the 01, or whatever razor worthy steel, is what gets honed. But that preference is based on possible unknowns regarding the production of the pattern welded material. If it's Zowada's, for instance, no worries, mate.

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Originally Posted by spoken36

It's not better than 01, intrinsically. It can be as good as well heat treated 01. It is a thing of beauty, to those bitten by the bug, and it is a demonstration of masterful metalwork. Personally, for a straight razor I would slightly prefer san mai, which is a Japanese style of homogeneous steel sandwiched by pattern welded steel such that the 01, or whatever razor worthy steel, is what gets honed. But that preference is based on possible unknowns regarding the production of the pattern welded material. If it's Zowada's, for instance, no worries, mate.

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Martin: I'll reinforce the basic premise. For steels of similar carbon and/or alloying content, and given proper heat treatment for their chemistry, the only difference between any patternwelded steel and a monosteel is the aesthetic. Cutting ability, in this example, could be safely assumed to be similar given an acceptable bevel set and honing.

The one advantage to a san mai construction is that generally, with good forging technique, the center core does not expose a weld boundary at the edge where a flaw would affect the cutting ability. Acceptably similar materials, whether monosteel or pattern welded would make little difference in cutting ability if honed correctly. Japanese thinking was to save good steel, e.g. higher carbon content for the edge alone rather than wasting that much good material on the spine or sides where it didn't matter much to performance and to avoid the fatal flaw that crossed the cutting edge.

I know this billet and how it was constructed. It's not safe to assume that because things look the same that they perform the same. As was mentioned, you should get to know the makers of your materials.

Wow - love the uniformity of the pattern! Awesome look Bruno!

Adam

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Originally Posted by spoken36

It's not better than 01, intrinsically. It can be as good as well heat treated 01. It is a thing of beauty, to those bitten by the bug, and it is a demonstration of masterful metalwork. Personally, for a straight razor I would slightly prefer san mai, which is a Japanese style of homogeneous steel sandwiched by pattern welded steel such that the 01, or whatever razor worthy steel, is what gets honed. But that preference is based on possible unknowns regarding the production of the pattern welded material. If it's Zowada's, for instance, no worries, mate.

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Check out som of my previous threads here, where I have posted blades with O2 core and Damascus sides.

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Originally Posted by Martin103

Other then the look of the steel, is there any advantages of having this steel compared to 01?

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As Mike already mentioned, when 2 steels have similar carbon content, there is absolutely no advantage other than aesthetic. If the carbon contents are different, the result is evened out. That said, I don't like O1 for razors. O2 is much better in my opinion, but near impossible to get in the US.

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Originally Posted by Mike Blue

I know this billet and how it was constructed. It's not safe to assume that because things look the same that they perform the same. As was mentioned, you should get to know the makers of your materials.

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Indeed. I like working with steel from friends. Not only does it reinforce the friendship and give you something to talk about over beer, but it is a good idea to build up experience by repeatedly using steel that was made with the same materials and manufacturing methods.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Check out som of my previous threads here, where I have posted blades with O2 core and Damascus sides.

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Thanks for the heads up. Will do.

Wow nice nice nice work! I like the scale material really pops

Aesthetics and education in the same thread - what more could you want.

I love the look of that steel Bruno.

Bruno,
I do have a question regarding your remark over preference of 02 over 01. I am not an expert in metallurgy and am always looking to expand my knowledge in this area. Why do you prefer 02 over 01?

Thanks,
Jared

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Originally Posted by Jared13

.... Why do you prefer 02 over 01?

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The carbon and insignificant minor alloys (Moly, Phos, Silicon, Sulf, Vanadium) are essentially identical. The Chromium is as low as it can be measured where O1 contains up to 0.5%. There is more manganese in the O2 making it very slightly easier to harden/heat treat. The time from fire/heat to quench is a little more forgiving. Those of us with controlled temperature systems can manipulate the internal structure in various ways that can be an advantage. For the majority it's a very nice easy to work with material that is not available in the US. It's merely another reason to be jealous of The Bruno. ;)

Essentially it is what Mike said. O2 is more forgiving during HT than O1. It is also harder to anneal it, but that is a different problem :)
Additionally, the lack of tungsten in O2 makes it also easier to grind, sand and polish than O1.
The same would be true for 1095, but that again is more difficult to HT properly than O2.

That is also why I prefer O2 in my Damascus, which is why I ship O2 to the people making Damascus for me, even though shipping 10 or 15 pounds of O2 is quite costly. O2/L6 or O2/15N20 is imo the best Damascus there is. And I am lucky in the sense that people like Howard help me out, and that I use enough Damascus that I can ship / order large quantities making it economically feasible.

Thanks Bruno and Mike. I appreciate the info. I do make razors but typically use 1095,O1 and W2 as that is what I am used to using. Again thanks for the info, I love learning about steels (new to me) especially from guys that know more than I and work with it. By the way Bruno, I didn't say before and it goes without saying as with all of your work, beautiful job.

Thanks again,
Jared