Guides
What is Damascus steel?
The short answer: modern Damascus steel is a blade made of many thin layers of steel folded or forged around a hard central core. The core does the cutting and holds the edge; the outer layers support and protect it, and etching brings out the rippled pattern. The pattern is partly practical and partly beauty, and that is fine.
Old Damascus and modern Damascus
The original Damascus steel was made in the Middle East from crucible steel ingots, called wootz, imported from India and Sri Lanka. Swords made from it were famous for their toughness and their watery surface pattern. The exact method was lost by around the 18th century, and metallurgists still debate how it was done.
What kitchen knives call Damascus today is pattern-welded steel: layers of two or more steels forged together, folded and drawn out. It looks related, and it is a real, skilled process, but it is a different thing from the historical metal.
How a modern Damascus blade is built
A hard core steel is chosen for the cutting edge.
Thin sheets of softer and harder steel are stacked either side of it.
The stack is heated and forge-welded, then folded or drawn out until there are dozens of layers. A count of 67 is common: 33 layers each side of a single core.
The blade is shaped, hardened and tempered.
It is etched in a mild acid. The different steels react differently, which brings up the light and dark ripples.
The edge is ground so that only the core steel forms the cutting edge.
What the layers do, and what they do not
| Claim | The honest answer |
|---|---|
| The layers make it sharper | No. Sharpness comes from the core steel and the edge angle. |
| The layers protect the core | Yes. A very hard core on its own can be brittle. Softer outer layers add toughness and support. |
| Food sticks less | Slightly, sometimes. The etched texture can help release, but blade shape matters more. |
| The pattern shows quality | Not by itself. A pattern can be etched onto ordinary steel. What matters is the core steel and its hardness. |
| It is beautiful | Yes, and that counts. A knife you enjoy using is one you will look after. |
What to look for instead of the pattern
Ask three questions. What is the core steel? How hard is it, on the Rockwell C scale? What angle is the edge? A core around 60 HRC with a 15 degree edge will take and hold a fine edge. The layers around it are the jacket; the core is the engine. How to choose a chef's knife covers the rest.
The Season knives for this
Both Season knife ranges use a 67-layer Damascus blade in a raindrop pattern, double bevelled. The Season S4 Chef's Knife (£100) has its layers forged around a 10CR steel core hardened to 61 HRC, sharpened to 15 degrees, with a full tang and triple-riveted rosewood handle. The Season S1 Chef's Knife (£80 for 16cm, £100 for 20cm) has a Japanese VG-10 stainless steel core and a rosewood and ebony handle, and is lighter in the hand. Both carry a lifetime guarantee and want hand washing. Knives are sold to over-18s only, with ID on delivery. If you are choosing between them, read S4 or S1: which Season knife is right for you?
A Damascus knife is sharpened like any other, on a whetstone: see how to sharpen a knife with a Season whetstone.
Questions people ask
Is Damascus steel real? Modern Damascus is real layered steel, forged and etched. It is not the same as the historical wootz steel of Damascus swords.
Will the pattern wear off when I sharpen? No. Sharpening only touches the edge; the pattern runs through the layers on the faces of the blade.
Does Damascus steel rust? Stainless Damascus resists rust well. Wash and dry it straight after use, as with any good knife. See how to look after a good kitchen knife.
Are more layers better? Not necessarily. Past a few dozen layers, the count is mostly about appearance. The core steel decides how the knife cuts.
How can I tell an etched-on pattern from real layers? Look at the spine and the bevel near the edge. On real layered steel the pattern continues there; a printed or laser-etched pattern stops at the surface.
Cook like it matters.
From the cooks at Season, a London cookshop since 2005.