sharpening Fake Damascus knives

I've never seen fake damascus knives before and I can tell you this; they are garbage!

[vicreaves]

Your wrong and miss leading people.
Damascus patterns are bought out by etching, either ferric chloride dipping or sand blasting. A knife can either be dipped up to the bolster or the bolster not blasted at all but in this case and the case of most even Japanese manufactured knives the blade is welded to the bolster. Integral bolster knives are very expensive and usually made by custom knife makers. Damascus is not even very expensive for Chinese factories to make any more but often the heat treat has poor quality control.
You can also take the Damascus pattern off any real Damascus knife with enough sanding.
Most likely it’s just a very poor heat treat that means this knife can’t be sharpened.

I’m not saying this knife is definitely real Damascus but your premise for believing it to be fake is totally wrong.

[BuddWolf]

My friend and I were at a gun and knife show a few years ago. About an hour into it, he came running up to me and says, ”Dude, check out this beautiful Damascus blade Bowie knife”. I took one look at it and knew it was not Damascus steel. He only paid $25 for it but it was really junk. Life lesson learned.

[OUTDOORS]

Companies making and selling products using these false advertising practices really need to be held accountable. If me or you did that kind of stuff we would be out of business never to return. I guess the only thing we can do is continue to call them out. But then they shut down and open under a new name. Need to put an end to faceless Companies selling crap🙁

[mattcocky]

Great video. Just an FYI the fact the damascus pattern does not continue on the bolster is not (by itself) an indicator that the damascus is fake. Sometimes the bolster or spine of the knife is polished which removes the visible pattern.

[thiago.assumpcao]

What you said about no pattern on handle being fake makes sense but it doesn't apply to many Chinese manufactures. I own Xinzuo damascus knifes that do not have pattern on the handle yet I know for sure its real because I thinned it down and after grinding and polishing the pattern is still there. If you want to test for damascus thats what you need to do, grind and polish the pattern.

As for the sharpening issue, maybe there is a problem with them, bad heat treatment really can affect performance but you finished sharpening with several passes edge trailing. That usually leaves a massive burr. Even with guided systems you need better deburring method. Try alternating passes with low pressure and edge leading, that's the best method I have found so far.

[NoNamesLeft]

Are you absolutely sure the bolsters are integral ? I suspect soldered in.
The bolsters have a very distinct yellow tone like you would see in nickle-silver.
I'd try to etch the secondary bevel or spine and see if you have any layers.
You can easily polish or resharpen those before you give them back, with no real damage.

[Brashies]

I believe those bolsters are soldered on. I sanded down and acid etched mine in ferric. It etched both the damascus and revealed the solder/weld on bolster.

Can't speak to your friend's knive's metal or HT though. It may be just cheap Damascus/laminate or the HT was messed up (heated) during final grind or polish.

Sand and acid etch a spot to see if its real...

[lucasgumbiner]

Love the video Jeremy! Those are no doubt trash knives! However it's commonplace for Japanese "integrals" to have their bolsters welded or brazed on. Even with actual damascus ones. I've seen it on companies like shun and Miyabi. So those might be actual patterned steel but definitely made from garbage

[ryansmith]

I looked up a ton of world famous Japanese knives and pretty much all of them are the same. Are you saying they are all fake😂

[arnaudray]

It is possible for the blades to be real damascus, just with low quality steels. In cheap, mass-produced knives, bolsters are often simply welded onto a flat blade to give it the appearance of an integral forged knife.

[rodneylangstroth]

Great video Jeremy. I make real Damascus and, yes, it holds a razor edge. This is a problem that scammers create. The sad thing is, the general public thinks that they are getting a good deal, when in fact, they are buying junk. Well done

[shaggy_e]

His neighbors friend watching this is punching the air right now 😂

[daver]

It's gonna be completely honest here and say those really could be Damascus.
I have Damascus knives that the pattern will wear down Over time and become faint.
And they could have just not dipped that in fair chloride or bead blasted it depending on what Method they used.

Could be cheaper steel yes. But alot of people get this thought and it's not true.
The pattern isn't just there it looks like normal steel till you dip in a acid or bead blast for stuff like a vg10 Damascus.
Laser eched looks way different.

I could take my vg10 Damascus knives and sand off the pattern easily.

The wider selection on that knife is the core probably cr3mov..or something cheap it it's Chinese.
Some makers use vg10 there too.
But that should be easier to sharpen.


I just don't want people getting the wrong idea. Patterns do fade. And can be sanded out. Look at forged in fire the explanation that the blade has to be etched so they xan see the pattern to judge it.

[jamiealexander]

So I bought a buck knife that was a hc440 steel. I started making knives about 6 years ago. I have made stainless, and carbon damascus. I decided to replace the blade in my with this cpm10v. It went great, bit the blade geometry was key to a sharp knife. It is still a monster to sharpen. My brother has those same knives. I just re-etched them for him because I changed his edge geometry. Those blades hold an edge like the cpm10v that is in my knife. Maybe it was the guy trying to sharpen the knives. I can tell you, after I etched in ferric chloride the pattern came back. You owe this company an apology.

[kenglass]

"I'd rather have a large coffee than this knife" too

[hugodraws]

Well, technically you could simply not etch that bolster and be Damascus... But no one would be that stupid cause it would look like this fake Damascus

[joshm]

The best steel in the world can't make up for a poor heat treat.
Odd that someone would go through the trouble of making fake damascus. Sure, it's probably cheaper than real damascus, but it's not like damascus is particularly difficult to make. It can't add that much to manufacturing cost.

[NoNamesLeft]

What is the make/model of your knife sharpener, please?

[victorpapaavp]

Something tells me those are really "Alumascus" blades...

[tigoes]

The fact the finger guard have no danascus pattern as well as the top part does not proves its not layered steel damascus. You can sand it off and you wont see patterns on any real dakascus knife, its because they need to go to the acid for petterns to br clearly visible. But then bring danascus does not mean its a good knife.