To be honest, swords and hunting knives with true Damascus steel were being made during the middle ages, and the exact production technique has been lost. What we call “Damascus” steel today is actually pattern-welded steel, but nonetheless, this yields very beautiful and very high quality blades for all kinds of custom knives. Several sheets of steel with different carbon content are welded together and bent, twisted and forged until the desired steel grain and solidity is achieved.

A favorite of both collectors and users, here are some examples of custom folding knives and custom hunting knives from our store featuring Damascus blades:

Click on the images for more information.

Grade 440C: high-end stainless steel, very hard (up to 60 HRC), very good resistance to corrosion (mild acids), fresh water, and the atmosphere.

Examples (click on the individual knives for more info):

Next up: Stainless steel Damascus blades

The community of custom knife collectors is growing. Despite the downturn in the economy, more and more people find joy and satisfaction from owning and collecting unique knives that are artworks and useful tools at the same time.

During the last few weeks, I’ve had several conversations with novice collectors inquiring about details like blade, handle and sheath materials, and while for us seasoned guys hearing about 440C steel, bark mammoth ivory or elephant ear skin makes perfect sense, I couldn’t find one single resource to learn about these things.

While I’m no big expert, I have a very good idea about where to look, and during the next few weeks, I’ll post entries with a broad overview categories and many many links so everybody can look up the information for themselves and become a better informed custom knife collector.

So, stay tuned!

This is it for now, more about him and his knives later.