Custom Damascus Blade Folding Knife

This is a collage of the Custom Damascus Blade Folding Knife, with photos and description of this knife.

For many years I have wanted to own a Damascus blade, but never got around to buying one. The desire was recently revived in 2015 and I ended up buying a custom folder directly from a manufacturer based in Pakistan.

The Damascus Blade

This folding knife consists of a 412-layer ladder-pattern Damascus blade forged from 1095 and 15N20 high carbon steels. The hollow-ground blade is one inch wide and 3 mm thick.

The bolster on the handle seems to be made of similar material, and the handle scales itself is made of camel bone.

On one side of the handle, the bone material appears clean resembling ivory (or even plastic), while the other side of the handle, the natural patina of bone can be seen, giving it a natural rustic appearance.

The handle liner is made of stainless steel, and the liner lock is of brass. It comes with a custom-built leather pouch made of cow leather.

This custom Damascus blade folding knife is 100% hand-made by Black Smith Knives (BSK), issued from the Dams Corporation in Pakistan.

They have an R&D team who are actively introducing new patterns like the “black river” and other new patterns in Damascus steel. The Dams Corporation make a limited number of knives every month in order to maintain quality and workmanship standards. What I love about their Damascus blades is the pronounced patterning due to the many layers of both high carbon steels forged and ground.

This custom Damascus blade folding knife is heavy and feels good in the hands.

The use of natural materials in the handle and the inimitable nature of the Damascus ladder pattern make this knife uniquely one of a kind. It is one of my favourite EDC at the moment.

I also chose camel bone for handle material, to deviate from the many black-handled knives that I already own.

A couple of issues though – the knife lacks a safety lock that prevents it from opening unintentionally. This is a common basic feature that is found on even the cheapest of folders, and should have been incorporated into this knife.

Secondly, in the closed position, the blade edge actually knocks on the inner steel surface of the liner spacer, dulling the blade after some time. This can be resolved with further sharpening until the edge no longer touches the spacer, and until it is stopped at the heel of the blade, like all good knives usually are.

Other than the two issues above (as major as it may seem), I am actually quite happy with this knife. I paid US$73.50 for it including shipping, and have since bought another Damascus knife (one with a black buffalo horn) – currently waiting for it to arrive. An article on that knife will be linked from here once it’s in my hands.

SEE ALSO:

• The Devon Buy Collection of Knives and Bladed Instruments