Indian Damascus Knives

Post by **Vikram** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:21 am

Gentlemen,

Do any of you have experience,come across Indian made Damascus knives?Any idea if any one makes them sells them in India? Olly,Rusty,AC,Yaj etc?

Thank you in advance.

Best-
Vikram

Post by **Yaj** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:26 am

Vikram, do you mean the modern pattern welded blades? If so there are quite a few being made mainly in Rajasthan. One of the dealers Mr Rochlani sells on ebay (I have bought from him in the past) though his prices have gone up considerably now. They are mostly collectibles(not users) and occasionally he has some old originals for sale.
http://stores.ebay.in/ancientarms
Regards,
Yaj.

Post by **Vikram** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:56 am

Hi Yaj,

Thanks for the info.I was told that there are Damascus hunting knives,not the pattern welded ones, being made in India and ones that can be used. Any idea?Thanks again.

Best-
Vikram

Post by **Yaj** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 4:11 am

Vikram";p="53042 wrote:Hi Yaj,

Thanks for the info.I was told that there are Damascus hunting knives,not the pattern welded ones, being made in India and ones that can be used. Any idea?Thanks again.

Best-
Vikram

Vikram, almost all modern Damascus is pattern welded steel, the true damascus blades are the old Wootz ones.The Wootz iron ingots were made in Andhra/Karnataka and shipped all over the world.The smiths in Damascus became famous for crafting superb blades out of them and hence the name.The word wootz comes from "ukku" which is said to mean steel in Kannada and Telugu.
it was made by heating iron ore in crucibles in the presence of carbonaceous substances in kilns thus carbonising the metal to a high carbon steel.

The process has been replicated with some success by a metallurgist in Russia I think in recent times.

The "modern" Damascus blades made in Rajasthan don't seem to be real users in terms of strength, heat treatment etc with more emphasis given to the pattern and ornamentation but I may be wrong since I haven't tested them. They make everything from large hunting knives to folders, swords, katars ,armour , shields,and even metal recurved bows. They even sell just the blades which would be the best way to go since one could do the heat treatment and handles themselves.
I found the finishing to be a bit inconsistent in the etching(too harsh) and the handle scales ,guard etc. They may have improved though since it is more than 2 years since i bought from them. If one had the choice to browse through the actual pieces you could end up with a really good piece. I bought a really nice " modern damascus" folder from him.Comes with a factory edge , totally blunt so I had to put an edge on it but its a beauty now

These knives would stand light use(most pieces of sharpened metal would) but i'm not to sure about heavy field use.
Regards,
Yaj.

Post by **Mack The Knife** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 6:37 am

Vikram,

Curious House from Rajasthan is the only one I know off who makes these knives. As Yaj mentioned, the blades may not be made the old way.

Mack The Knife

art_collector · Post by **art_collector** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:38 am

Hi,

The best of the damascus blades that are exported all over the world come from Udaipur. The process remains the same ..yes the quality may differ ...and really depends on the manuafcturer and the price for the blade.You can get a damascus sword for INR 2000 and also get a simailar size sword for INR 1,35,000 ...depends who us making it and for whom.Since I know most of them would not like to comment who is better and who is not.

AC

Post by **Yaj** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:51 am

AC, are the blades properly heat treated? The gent I bought my knives from said yes but he didn't seem too convincing.
Regards,
Yaj.

TenX · Post by **TenX** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:25 am

art_collector";p="53049 wrote: Hi,

The best of the damascus blades that are exported all over the world come from Udaipur. The process remains the same ..yes the quality may differ ...and really depends on the manuafcturer and the price for the blade.You can get a damascus sword for INR 2000 and also get a simailar size sword for INR 1,35,000 ...depends who us making it and for whom.Since I know most of them would not like to comment who is better and who is not.

AC

Art_collector.. Any online service of their's (Udaipur manufacturer) for us living far away to view and order if possible?

HSharief · Post by **HSharief** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:21 pm

There was a poster some time back who had an elaborate website that sold Damascus knives. He had a pretty decent website but never replied to queries about prices and shipping and such.

marksman · Post by **marksman** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:48 pm

Damascus knives from Rajasthan are very ordinarily made welded steel knives. I ordered a few in greed and promptly sent them back to the manufacturer. They have no clue of the proportions and size. The steel is brittle and hard, very difficult to sharpen as they are sold unsharpened. They look good in pictures but are far from it when seen. A big NO NO. They are picked up maybe by ignorant foreigners generally.
Marksman

TenX · Post by **TenX** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:03 pm

Thanks for the warning marksman... any other good makers in India?

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