Knives by Smyth

Michael Walker

I have found the Damasteel process to be the quickest, cleanest and most reliable process available. The steels allow for creativity and will still stand up to the close tolerance work necessary in our field."

For the 1995 Art Knife Invitational, I forged 5 billets of Stainless Damascus and made the "D" lock folder shown here, so I know the process of the traditional methods: stacking, folding, and welding, etc. Damasteel is made with powder metal technology and has no welds as with traditional Damascus steels. Two or more different metals in powder form are fused together with heat and pressure. You can get more information on this process at the Damasteel website at: .

I used the samples and liked the steel very much. Sometime later, at a show in Germany, I bought some new patterns of Damasteel from the Distributor there, Wolf Borger, who is also a knifemaker. After making some knives with the new Damasteel patterns I had purchased, I was hooked.

The best combination of hardness and strength is found mostly in the rapidly solidified powder steels.   "I have been making knives for over 20 years now and have never been a part-time maker. Knifemaking has been my vocation and passion from the beginning. Throughout my career, I always look for the best material for the job at hand. I believe I have found this in Damasteel.

Some years ago, Kaj Embretsen gave me some Damasteel samples at the East Coast Custom Knife Show. Kaj is a world class bladesmith from Sweden where the company is based and was part of the Damasteel equation. He explained the powder metal process and that BOTH metals are hard after heat treatement. There is no folding and welding in the Damasteel patented process. This high tech approach to Damasteel appealed to me.

Advantage of RSP vs. Conventional Steels The reason why the RSP steel give superior performance is found in the solidification structure. The coarse carbide structure of the conventional steels limits the fracture strength. The carbide clusters act like fracture initiation sites on a certain stress level. The substantially smaller carbides in the rapidly solidified material inhibit fracture initiation until the stress level is nearly doubled. The powder steels have around twice the fracture strength of conventional steels.

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