Damasteel/Damascus and sharpening Scandi Edges

[PeterHW]

Anyone else find they are in a quandry as to how best sharpen a Scandi edge damascus blade and still keep the damascus pattern?

Most seem to be a "surface etching" which would be removed.....

In comparison a flat grind blade and traditional V grind edge enables most of the pattern to remain save for the wear and tear of batoning with the knife....

Makes you wonder why etch the bevel grind ? It would be more asthetically helpful to leave this as bare metal and keep the damascus pattern on the "flats"....then a straightforward sharpening by holding the bevel of the scandi grind flat against a stone would only serve to polish the steel rather than dull the damascus etching?

Is it me Or am I missing something....

The sad thing is that after moderate use the pattern removal makes the knife look like it has had quite a hard life....until ofcourse the complete etching is removed on the bevel and just remains on the flats....where upon a sharpening with a good polish would make the knife look rather like new....

Anyone regularly work with a damascus blade and do things differently?

 

[PeterHW]

Guess not

Well....for what it is worth I spent a few hours tonight using a Spyderco Sharpmaker and gave the blade a decent secondary bevel edge which kept the damasteel finish looking good.

The knife is an Alan Wood Woodlore done in Damasteel....Alan seems to do a slight hollow grind on his Scandi Edge which helps when using a Sharpmaker....there is less metal to remove on the edge.....and gradually it will taper into making a flat chisel grind edge easier to apply....the knife was off the secondary market and came a bit dull....

Tried to contact Alan to see what he suggested....left messages and no return call....these days it is like trying for an audience with the Pope...

 

[wentworth]

Damascus pattern goes all the way through the steel, real damascus is not etched on, it's different layers of steel. Sharpen away!

 

[dwardo]

I have a thunderforged damascus blade and i use a DC4 in the field and a set of water stones from axminster at home.

The pattern i believe is the different steels reacting differently to the environment. Just after shapening you loose the pattern. This pattern tends to come back with use or you can speed it up by applying something acidic, lemon juice etc.

I usualy just wait for it to weather and come back of its won accord.

Only my experience so you may want to wait until one of the knife making gurus comes along

 

[Dave Budd]

Losing the pattern on the blade is all part of using damascus knives They start black and white and gradually fade to shades of grey and brown Or shiny and washed out depending on how fastidiously you clean them

Also a problem of scandi ground blades that the maker has etched post sharpening is that it will scratch and remove the pattern. The only ways around it are to put a secondary bevel on it (in which case get a properly flat ground knife and not a scandi ground one) or to re-etch yourself after sharpening. I guess you could poplish off the bevel just to make it look good irrespective of how your sharpening affects the surface.

Alan does slightly hollow grind the bevels because it makes sharpening it much easier. One of the troubles with scandi grinds is that unless you are able to maintain a true flat on the stone (which not many can) then it will convex off with sharpening and you need to work really hard to return it to flat if you can't regrind it. Which is why I rufuse to sharpen them at shows I suspect Alan grinds to an edge pre etching and then strops the edge to a finish when ready.

 

[Draven]

Damascus pattern goes all the way through the steel, real damascus is not etched on, it's different layers of steel. Sharpen away!

Indeed the pattern does go all the way through, but the blade has to be etched to show it up, or it will look pretty much like one piece of homogeneous steel. That's why when choosing steels for damascus you use one that will react a lot to the etch and one that will react less, for contrast. If you sharpen the primary bevel of a scandi-ground damascus knife, it will no longer have a visible pattern. It would have to be polished and etched again.

 

[eraaij]

In my Paul Baker damascus outback, the pattern reapppears when using finer stones and a final polish. I guess it depends on the damascus itself. This is a uhb20c/1095 mix.

No need for etching in this one.

 

[stevec]

In my Paul Baker damascus outback, the pattern reapppears when using finer stones and a final polish. I guess it depends on the damascus itself. This is a uhb20c/1095 mix.

No need for etching in this one.

that might be due to different grain structure in the steel? not an expert i have to admit.

steve

 

[FGYT]

this is why damascus scandi knives have a micro bevel when new its easir for the maker to put a sharp edge on it with out ruining the pretty pattern

personnally if i had one i would polish the bevel so its properly differnt
if the 2 metals have reasonabley different hardnesses then you will get a pattern diffence with sharpening and polishing as softer metal dosnt get as shiny but it will be a different contrast to etched etc
Dama steel being stainless will be harder to bring up with home brew acids like lemon juice or hot coffee

if i can make my Flandi grinf in Damascus the bevel will be polished / as sharpened as a user

ATB

Duncan

 

[Draven]

In my Paul Baker damascus outback, the pattern reapppears when using finer stones and a final polish. I guess it depends on the damascus itself. This is a uhb20c/1095 mix.

No need for etching in this one.

How much does it reappear? It's not uncommon for that to happen after a polish, but nowhere near the black/silver lines you often see on freshly etched damascus. Could be metallurgical differences of course as already stated!

Pete

 

[eraaij]

You see it reappear here after a short session on 6000 grit Japanese stone. It must indeed be the different steels.

-Emile

 

[PeterHW]

Thanks for the info everyone .... gives me some help deciding what to do .... the secondary bevel edge is razor sharp and will last a while.... so let's see how this works....

 

[wentworth]

Indeed the pattern does go all the way through, but the blade has to be etched to show it up, or it will look pretty much like one piece of homogeneous steel. That's why when choosing steels for damascus you use one that will react a lot to the etch and one that will react less, for contrast. If you sharpen the primary bevel of a scandi-ground damascus knife, it will no longer have a visible pattern. It would have to be polished and etched again.

Oh! A rolled eye!

I thought the OP was confusing damascus with the faux damascus I've seen on cheaper knives, which is only skin deep.

Apologies and grovelling aplenty.

 

[Draven]

You see it reappear here after a short session on 6000 grit Japanese stone. It must indeed be the different steels.

-Emile

Funny, that's a lot more pronounced than I expected!

Oh! A rolled eye!

I thought the OP was confusing damascus with the faux damascus I've seen on cheaper knives, which is only skin deep.

Apologies and grovelling aplenty.

Now now, no need for sarcasm