# Custom made 240mm Damascus Steel Kitchen Knife



## ThomasW (Oct 19, 2018)

Hi everyone,

I`m new here, and my name is Thomas.
I wanted to share a few pictures of my unique and beautiful knife made by an unknown (yet) but very skilled blacksmith.
It was a fantastic experience as during the design I was in contact with the Blacksmith. We exchanged the ideas, different designs etc. until I was happy. Not every day you can actually talk to the Blacksmith about the design of your knife .

I wonder what do you think about this knife.

*Blade Length:* 240mm
*Overall Length:* 370mm
*Weight:* 326g
*Blade:* Damascus 200 layers
*HRC:* 61.5
*Handle:* American Walnut
*Blacksmith:* http://gielniak-knives.com


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

Looks nice! How does it cut?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Is thata hollow grind?


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

It's a very nice wide-bevel design, I like the profile, a lot, and the pattern is beautifully intricate.

Good catch phatch, I believe it is a hollow grind.

What's the steel? This guy is working in M390 and other PM steels, pretty cool. He's even hard-coating his field knives, great idea, haven't heard of others doing it.


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## ThomasW (Oct 19, 2018)

millionsknives said:


> Looks nice! How does it cut?


Amazingly sharp, obviously the steel is reactive so I have to look after it. I have not sharpened the knife yet.


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## ThomasW (Oct 19, 2018)

Yes, it is. Originally I had an idea for a Guyoto knife with Chisel Grind but this comes out great.


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## ThomasW (Oct 19, 2018)

rick alan said:


> It's a very nice wide-bevel design, I like the profile, a lot, and the pattern is beautifully intricate.
> 
> Good catch phatch, I believe it is a hollow grind.
> 
> What's the steel? This guy is working in M390 and other PM steels, pretty cool. He's even hard-coating his field knives, great idea, haven't heard of others doing it.


I don`t know a lot about steel types but on my certificate and in the description for my knife on the website is stated that the knife was made using three types of steel, and this is some info about it:


_75Ni8(DIN)_ - Bandsaw steel. High toughness. Thanks to Nickel in it produces bright lines in damascus steel. Often used with other steels in pattern weld damascus.

_1.3505(W-Nr)_ - Alloyed tool steel, very similar to AISI 52100 steel, but has 0.1% Vanadium which may give a boost in wear resistance, and whatever sources I have found it at, list it as a different steel from 52100.

_1.2842(W-Nr)_ - Oil hardening tool steel. Working hardness up to 63-65HRC. Makes pretty decent performer for light/medium use knives at that hardness.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

Interesting, usually layered Damascus is composed or 1ea of hardening and non hardening steels. I have heard of using 2 hardening steels together, PM steels at that, but this is the first 3-banger I've heard of.

I bet it has very good food release, and there is better distal taper at the tip tan you usually see on other wide bevels.

@phatch , can you see about fixing the pictures in with a repost? I'd think you'd agree this one deserves it.


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## ThomasW (Oct 19, 2018)

rick alan said:


> Interesting, usually layered Damascus is composed or 1ea of hardening and non hardening steels. I have heard of using 2 hardening steels together, PM steels at that, but this is the first 3-banger I've heard of.
> 
> I bet it has very good food release, and there is better distal taper at the tip tan you usually see on other wide bevels.
> 
> @phatch , can you see about fixing the pictures in with a repost? I'd think you'd agree this one deserves it.


I don`t know why those three types of steel were picked, but it is worth to mention that the Blacksmith has a PhD in Chemistry . I love this knife, and I`m thinking to order another one, but I have been told that I have to wait over a year if I want one, he has so many orders.

P.S.
What has happened to the pictures?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I would suspect they were causing a server wait or load increase

And to quibble with Rick it's not that they harden or not per se though that is an effect of what they traditionally used. rather it was a high carbon and high nickel steel. Which have the other effect of reacting differently when chemically patinated creating the look we are accustomed to. I mention that because the look is what they pursue in the steel above. When you move to the so called damasteel--which is trademarked as I recall but has fallen into common usage-- then you use stainless steel that will react to give the traditional look. It's not about the hardening though that can be affected by the steels chosen.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

You misread my comment, I didn't imply that you needed a hardening/non-hardening combination, just that it is typically what has been used. With the hard/non-hard combination you have good blade toughness even at max-hard tempers.

Cosmo knives in Canada were doing Damascus with S30VN and S90V, but he stopped that, for what ever reason, and now does Damascus only in a san-mai fashion with a core steel for the cutting edge.

ThomasW you better get on that order soon, smiths whose work catches on have several years long waiting lists before you know it.


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