Thread: TI Damascus Steel

Shosui Takeda does an AS Damascus where he forges a high carbon steel in between two layer of Damascus. Pretty cool stuff. Lynn

He does some really nice razors. How does the takeda steel sharpen up and hold an edge?

One comment about your store -- very few (none?) of the descriptions mention the degree of grind. Is this an option on ordering?

I have maistro dem with takada steel...awsum razor

The pattern welded blades will get a fairly even carbon content between the layers due to carbon migration. After 7 folds at around 250 layers a blade will break cleanly. Most of the modern blades have an alloy steel like O1 that contains nickle for better contrast when etched. Mixing 2 steels may give you a lower carbon content that is tougher but not as keen an edge.

A blade made from a homogeneous tool steel is what I would trust to make the best edge. I have forged a razor from W1 in a Norse pattern from 600 AD heat treated and sharpend. Twenty years ago I shaved with this blade and had a very close shave. I took quite a while to sharpen the first time and was scary sharp. The edge length is 1.5 inches, to make a more modern razor with a longer edge O1 would be a better choice to prevent warpage during the heat treatment steps.

I'm in possesion of the wootz steel blade called the Silk Cutter and was the blade that introduced modern wootz. The blade was made by Pendray, Job and Schwarzer. At the New York blade show that the knife was introduced it was challenged to cut a silk scarf and did. The information related by Al Pedray was that cuts from this blade during the making did not heal well. My father was a surgeon and observed that things that cut and stiched perfectly without trauma did not heal as well. Before many of the disposable scaples came into being the eye surgeons had a blade breaker for breaking off the corners of Persona Blue double edge blades. A special holder held the corners for surgical use.

Roger V.A.

Man, I'm glad somebody else has heard of Al Pendray.

I met him a my fathers shop in Gainesville Fl. about 1983 at a blacksmiths meeting. I think it was the previous year that the first Wootz cake was made in the shop, about destroyed a firepot. I have seen him off and on since then and would like to go by his place and talk to him and learn more about what is going on. He has retired from farrier work and is no longer president of the bladesmiths guild. The last I had talked to him he was president and very busy. Years ago Wallace Yater had also published some work in www.ABANA.org Anvil's Ring about Wootz. I need to study more, it is really hard to get a grip on toolsteel metalurgy much less Wootz conventional toolsteels. I have not looked for or read any papers on Wootz lately. Try pluging Wootz or Techno Wootz in a search engine, I have not done so lately but need to try again.

Roger V.A.