Crazy Crow knife

Sparks of Dutch Glory said:

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Twisted_1in66 said:

They definitely had some well made and very nice knives in the 1700's. However, trade knives were not among those. They were the "cheap" knives of the era and were first used to trade with the native Indians. However, they were still serviceable knives and a lot of folks ended up with them, not just the natives. The knives in Japan, especially in the Sakai region (around the city of Sakai) were far superior as they made a type of steel that is more commonly known of now as Damascus steel. They made it by hammering it thin; folding it over; forge hammer-welding the pieces together; and repeating the process multiple times. Every time they folded it, it doubled the layers of steel in the knife. It's the same method they used to make Katana swords. Those were not the type of knives coming out of Europe in the 1700's.

The Sakai region of Japan still makes some of the best knives in the world using Japanese traditional methods. Many (most) of those knifes are single bevel and are ungodly sharp. I have (and use) a Yanagiba knife with a 10½" blade from a maker in Sakai region that I use for making sushi. It's specifically designed for cutting delicate raw fish and meat. They have been making these knives for many hundreds of years. Although they were certainly being made in the 1700's, none of them are known to have made it to America back then. The knives found in America ran the gamut of cheap to expensive and tended to be more general-purpose knives than single-purpose knives. Or perhaps I should say they may have been designed for one thing, such as scalping knives, but used for many other cutting chores.

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Sparks of Dutch Glory said:

Here's 2 that we've had a while
Yes they do wear down a mite

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TNGhost said:

I recently got a Higo Nokami Japanese pocketknife when it ended up as a suggestion from Amazon for under $20. Sharp as a razor and makes a good path knife.

Not exactly historically correct for a muzzleloading patch knife, but historical in its own right and interestingly constructed.

Mine is like the black one shown in this video. The brass one I think costs a bit more.

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Sparks of Dutch Glory said:

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LRB said:

What you described is shear steel. Common Damascus is two or more different steels which can be hammer welded to show a pattern when acid etched. Shear steel starts with blister steel and when done well is a very good quality steel and was still being made in 1950's Europe. True Damascus was/is a crucible mono-steel that is known as Wootz steel.

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Twisted_1in66 said:

Thanks LRB!. I was wondering why with all the folding it didn't show the patterns when ground.

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