Today, I’m going to cover something a little bit different in the cutlery world. it is a nice fixed-blade fighting knife, made in Pakistan out of Damascus steel, and marketed by Valley Forge Cutlery. Damascus steel-bladed knives used to be all the rage and it was pretty much restricted to the custom knife-makers’ realm. First, a little bit of history is called for:
Damascus steel-bladed knives go back to Damascus, Syria some centuries ago. The development of this steel began perhaps as early as 700 AD, but most point to closer to 900 AD. But “authoritative” sources vary widely. Most modern Damascus steel knives are made out of 1095 carbon steel, with a little bit of chrome mixed in. What is involved in a Damascus blade is a forging process. The steel is heated – red hot – and then pounded. This used to be done by hand, but today it is a little bit easier with automated trip-hammers. When the steel is pounded, it is then folded over onto itself, and the process starts all over again. Some Damascus blades had folded over on themselves hundreds of times during this process. The knife under review here has about 200 layers – and that is more than sufficient to give the steel added strength.Continue reading“Valley Forge Damascus Steel Knife, by Pat Cascio”
