Thread: Damascus blade

No functional difference eh? I would ask Mr Blue if he has ever shaved with a TI damascus or honed one or even handled one or has he just seen pictures of them. I guess I'm just a sucker for buying one then but I'll tell you this from my experience and I have 60 razors including carbon and stainless and all the well known brands and the TI is like nothing else out there. It doesn't shave like it, it doesn't hone like it and I think lynn will agree with me.

However its made it's different.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

No functional difference eh? I would ask Mr Blue if he has ever shaved with a TI damascus or honed one or even handled one or has he just seen pictures of them. I guess I'm just a sucker for buying one then but I'll tell you this from my experience and I have 60 razors including carbon and stainless and all the well known brands and the TI is like nothing else out there. It doesn't shave like it, it doesn't hone like it and I think lynn will agree with me.
However its made it's different.

No functional difference given the conditions I specified. You certainly have a right to question. My creds go a lot deeper than looking at pictures and talking religion about razors.

I do have TI razors (more than one) here at home. They are used in regular rotation and shave very well thank you. I hone my own, well enough to know a good shave from a bad one. I don't need to handle a TI damascus, the tale was right there to be seen in the pictures.

I have no need for a TI "damascus" razor because I have about 400 lbs of pattern welded steel on my bench in various states of folding and finish. It's what I've been quite good at for the last 22 years or so. If I want a pattern welded razor, I'll make my own. Ask Randy, he's been to my shop.

Maybe I'll even sell you one just so you can complain about my prices.

I have all the requisite equipment to manufacture my own steel, from start to finish, either as the Japanese do with their sword steels, or in crucibles, including all the correct chemistry to make wootz according to the Pendray/Verhoeven recipes. Not only that, I've made knives from wootz billets made by Mr. Pendray and by Ric Furrer who routinely makes his own wootz. I still have some samples of each of those fellow's material saved up for a rainy day.

Dennis H., who owns Brisa in Finland, is a good friend of mine as well. I'm sure that he's buying wootz made by Roselli, because they are the big dog on the European block when it comes to wootz material.

There is nothing magical or mysterious about wootz from a crucible or pattern welded materials in layers. The secret, which I gladly gave away, is in the heat treatment. TI does have a good operating HT process and I think I alluded to that previously as well. I have a lot of respect for folks who do things right. Enough so that despite the fact that I could make my own, I use one of Thiers (I love it when a good play on words comes together!)

The pattern won't give the edge any better performance, despite continuing mythology to the contrary. A polished/honed edge is just that, polished and honed. It'll look the same on a patterned blade or a monosteel blade.

The fact that TI knows how to make a good grind and set up the razor for good performance initially, has good to better heat treatment, those are the items that will make the difference. The pattern is merely an appearance factor on the parts of the blade that don't contribute to the shave.

But let's, keep the experiment fair and scientific. The comparison you want should be made between a TI damascus razor and a plain carbon steel TI razor of similar qualities among all variables. The difference will not be the pattern alone.

Why not contact TI and ask them about this debate? I'd prefer you ask the grinders and heat treaters and not the marketing department. I've read all that hype. There's much more worth knowing from their published photos than anything marketing could say to convince me of anything.

Wanna put some money on their answer?