damascus blades

[nedradonic@mac.com]

Hi everybody,
lookin' for a damascus razor, 2 questions stay: how does it shave? is it harder to get it sharpened than other razor blades?
thanks guys (remember, my english is no good)

[YesSheDoes!]

I've wondered this myself, and later on today after I have my very first shave with my NEW Zowada damascus razor (which arrived last night), I'll let you know. Won't be able to speak to the part about honing and stropping yet, as it came "shave-ready", but I'm sure others will be chiming in soon...

[Bruno]

We've discussed this before, and the conclusion is this:

Damascus (pattern welded steel) is made from 2 high carbon steels. The folding / pattern welding itself is irrelevant, except for aesthetical purposes. If it is properly heat treated, its qualities will be no different from plain monosteel blades that were made from the same high carbon.

The patterns are nice, but do not impart magical qualities to the blade.
In fact, the opposite can be true. pattern welding is a labor intensive process. The outside becomes the inside several times. And since prolonged contact with fire will decarburize the blade (I am merely repeating here), patternwelding can be harmful to the blade quality unless done skillfully.

It was Robert Williams (if my brain doesn't deceive me) who said that Tims Zowada's razors are not superb because they are pattern welded, but in spite of the fact that they are pattern welded.

[thebigspendur]

I have 2 Zowada razors and though they are great shavers they are nothing special in the performance department. As a matter of fact since I have them quite some time now I've come to realize that they both seem to need touch up honing a tad more frequently than my other razors. On the other hand my TI damascus I've been literally using it for years now and have never had to do a touchup. However the initally honing of that razor out of the box was, well, er an agony.

[Quick]

It was Robert Williams (if my brain doesn't deceive me) who said that Tims Zowada's razors are not superb because they are pattern welded, but in spite of the fact that they are pattern welded.

Haha, I had to read that about 10 times and decided there are many ways you could interpret it depending on how you read it. I think the translation is:

Tim Zowada's razors are superb. They are superb not because they are pattern welded, but in spite of the fact that thay are pattern welded.

[Bruno]

Haha. Yes indeed.
Robert said that they were superb. And they are superb despite the fact that they are pattern welded.

[nedradonic@mac.com]

thanks for your reply guys