What is a Damascus knife?

Damascus is popular word in knife industry. But the definition is not clear. Original mean might be the name of capital of Syria. Some people think Damascus is the kind of material. It may be wrong from scientific view. It may be a marketing word.

My understanding is that Damascus means patterns on the surface. This is the most general usage of "damascus" in knife industry. If there is some unique patterns on the knife, people call it Damascus.

In my hometown, we don't use the word "Damascus". We say "Sekiso積層" it means layered in Japanese. We use layered material to make unique pattern. Most of our knives are 2 or 3 layered. Damascus knives are 8-32 or more layered. The purpose of many layers are making unique visual.

About our layered knives (Some people say Damascus pattern)

Damascus parts don't touch the food. It doesn't have relation to cutting. Core material cuts the food. Damascus is for visual purpose most of cases.

Someone said layered material is not easy to be warped. It might be right in some condition. But I saw many Damascus knives are warped. 

In my experience and learning from knife maker, Damascus is visual only. It doesn't affect cutting food directly. But it makes huge impact on our emotion. Beautiful thing raise our mind. We cut and cook better if our mind is up mood!

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Conclusion

Damascus pattern is decoration. Beautiful visual makes you happy. Mysterious wording makes you powerful.