Damask knife information

A damask knife consists of several layers of steel. It is folded several times during manufacture. This creates the unique patterns. The folding technique makes a damask knife quite flexible, but at the same time you get a very stable blade with an impressive sharpness. Damascus steel is also called Damascus steel (origin of Damascus). This is due to the special process in which one or more types of steel are repeatedly folded during forging and welded to form a composite steel. The structure of each individual layer is made visible through special polishing processes and etching.

VG10 steel

VG10 is a stainless / rust-proof laminate steel and is made in Japan. The core consists of a layer of VG10 steel and is welded on both sides with 33 layers of stainless steel. VG10 steel contains a relatively high carbon content of approx. 1%. This makes VG10 steel harder than other types of stainless steel. The steel has very good cutting properties and is lightly ground extremely sharp. Knives of this type should never be put in the dishwasher or left damp in the sink.

Damask patterns and layers

We recommend damask knives with more than 30 layers, precisely because of the stability and flexibility mentioned. The so-called wild damask is created by simply multiplying layers, with no particular influence on the pattern. The situation is different with damask knives with a ladder pattern. The conductor pattern is created when the layers are cut before it is forged to the actual knife size. A modified form of the conductor pattern is the cross damask pattern, which is created when the blanks are cut and welded.

How do you sharpen a damask knife?

The blades of the damask knives have a long-lasting edge sharpness, but these too have to be sharpened at some point. Damascus knives are usually ground in a V-shape, their sharpening angle varies between 12 - 15 °, which should be strictly adhered to. Whetstones in various grain sizes are particularly suitable as a sharpening agent. You go from roughly 300 grit (heavily worn) up to grindstones that have a grit of 6000 polishing stone (fine grinding). Pulling it over a leather then makes the blade razor sharp. If you are unsure, you can also use angle gauges, so you are guaranteed to keep the angle. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can also give your knives to professional sharpening workshops, these can often be found in your area, there are also mobile sharpening services that come into the house.