THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT DAMASCUS STEEL

[Mortblanc]

I do not think Bill02 is really there,

I suspect that he is an autobot posting to any unfiltered website on the internet.

Charles, I have read the inventories of trade goods for both the American Fur Company and the Hudson's Bay Company and has always amazed at the quantity of knives they shipped to the posts on the frontier.

It was not unusual to see invoices for several crates of "common knives, 100 dozen, no handles" going to single trade stations.

They were packed without handles in wooden crates coated with oil. You open the big wooden box and see 1200 neatly paced blades all lined up in rows.

I have often thought that they were probably given as gifts, boot on a good trade. I now that the U.S. government trade factories gave small blades away as favors. Those blades were about 3" long and shaped like an SAK main blade. They had a narrow "push tang" so they could be plugged into anything looking like a handle.

Of course the Mora, the Ontario made Marine K-bar, the Pilot Survival knife, all of the famed Old Hickory butcher knives (also made by Ontario), and the Old Forge butcher knives made by the Case company, are all forged from 1095 steel.

What does that mean for us? Realistically it means that if we are ever in a serious social situation when we grab a well chosen knife from the kitchen counter it can be of the same strength, quality, and capability as many of the excellent combat blades on the market for the past 75 years.

But then again, when you have access to a forge you use some strange stuff for blades. The knife I have used most for "bushcrafting" is a blade I forged from a horse drawn hay rake tine. It has an antler handle and has been a loyal companion for decades when I was spending more time under canvas than under a real roof.