I have a number of kitchen knives that claim to be “damascus,” and a few that should make some kind of claim, but have two that Dr. H and I will soon compare that I think qualify:
They’re called “dual core.” They differ from all the other damascus I have that use softer cladding around a central harder core.
What kind do you have?
Ray
I bought a few not-true-true Damascus knives for other people – ranging from two Miyabi Artisan Chef’s knives to a recent Korin Hammered Damascus Wa-Santoku.
However, I myself do not have any Damascus knife - except maybe a Shun bread knife.
Here’s most of my knives. One new global since then; not damascus.
I don’t know which ones are real damascus, but maybe I’d like to! You can probably tell I don’t know much about knives but I use them. A lot!
No Damascus knives here.
Hi shnrinkrap,
Great collection!
You have 5 knives that seem to have some cladding,
but
That Hikari santoku is the real deal: a true dual core damascus.
How do you like it?
Ray
It’s not like the true dual core damascus I posted, but I really like the Korin santoku you selected.
Ray
Husband bought it for me. I like it fine, but I am terrified about sharpening it.
ETA husband says I bought it.
No problem, RD,
I’m still trying to fully understand what damascus is all about–and it’s a work in progress.
Ray
Damascus definitely does not mean better. However, people from this website are not making Damascus knives.
Didn’t mean to imply that they were, simply that not all Damascus knives are created equal.
Hi, Chem:
It’s hardly surprising that few users have “real” Damascus knives. What gets sold in the mass market are knives with a “core” of solid tool steel cladded with sides of layered steel to look like the entire blade is Damascus.
This defeats the supposed purpose of Damascus–to have the different layers at the very cutting edge, where the microserrations inherent in hundreds or thousands of layers exposed at the edge can contribute to cutting.
IMO, “cored” edges cladded with layered steels are only as good as the cores–the cladding is only layered as matters of aesthetics and marketing. Add to this the intellectual dishonesty of putting VERY few layers into the billet.
Aloha,
Kaleo
That article is wrong. That part of explanation about " There is two mainly types Damascus knives. One is blades are cheaply made and consist of simple layered steel or flattened steel cable that is etched to produce the lines to attract many people…
I would like to recommend the other type is made from layers of high-carbon steel but also has an inner core of high carbon specialty steel like VG-10."
First, neither of these is what I would call a Damascus knife. Second, if we are down to these two options, then the etching pattern on the blade side vs a few more layers on the blade side does not make the difference. These two designs are both based on a core steel, and it will be the core steel largely determining the performance.
Exactly.
Thanks.
Ray
You shouldn’t have to sharpen it too often. Maybe all you need to do is to strop like me–or just send it to Shun in Oregon–they’ll sharpen it for free.
An article for you:
Ray
I have always thought they were beautiful but never had the urge to buy one. I like good old carbon steel.
Many knives in the mass market are not Damascus knives. Most of the so called Damascus kitchen knives are knives with Damascus patterns. They are beautiful and attractive. Many of them are high quality knives. That being said, their high quality is not due to their Damascus pattern.
Regardless of true Damascus knives or Damascus pattern knives, attractiveness is a big part of their appeal. Therefore, I do recommend people to stay always from certain Damascus knives, especially the shiny ones, which are easier to scratch up and leave a visible marks.
Here are a few photos of what I mean.
I have two “supposed” damascus knives from Shun. I only put supposed in there because I have no idea about what makes a true damascus knife or not, and I didn’t buy them because they were damascus knives. I bought them because they were Bob Kramer’s line of Shun knives, and they were on sales and a relatively good decent deal. 
With that being said, they were fantastic knives! I have an every day chef knife and when it struggles with something too big or too tough, I break out the Kramer damascus knives. Goes through that stuff like butter.
Which Bob Kramer line did you get?
