Damascus knife

Foxyboy43

Well-Known Member
A local chap has offered to make me a bespoke knife in damascus steel for gralloching - any advice on metal composition, shape of blade, type of handle etc. would be much appreciated.
thanks chaps
🦊🦊
 
15N20 - at least whats I learnt from Forged in Fire. Shape of blade is arguable but I have always enjoyed one with a curve and slim blade profile. G10 or Micarta should work well for handle. Looking forawrd to see what others prefer.
 
15N20 - at least whats I learnt from Forged in Fire. Shape of blade is arguable but I have always enjoyed one with a curve and slim blade profile. G10 or Micarta should work well for handle. Looking forawrd to see what others prefer.
Cheers AT. Any info well received.
🦊🦊
 
Damasteel carrys a good reputation, but I can't claim to know of availability or cost.

Also, after a little reading (and still not much knowledge) I plumped for a flat grind.
 
Get a knife made not a sword, to many times ive seen pictures of these giant croc dundee type things that people have, just get a nice neat thin pointed knife to get in and cut the anus out and that will actually make your life easier when grolloching, also dont forget you may want to use it to paunch rabbits or breast off so pidgeons ect
 
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Damasteel carrys a good reputation, but I can't claim to know of availability or cost.
Yep, that’s part of my problem. I have this hankering for something very special that I can pass down after I have moved on to deer nirvana, though hopefully not for a while just yet!
thank you..
🦊🦊
 
Get a knife made not a sword, to many times ive seen pictures of these giant croc dundee type things that people have, just get a nice neat thin pointed knife to get in and cut the anus out and that will actually make your life easier when grolloching, also dont forget you may want to use it to paunch rabbits or breast off so pidgeons ect
You can buy perfect knives for £10 but it’s nice to use nice things my loveless style drop point does all the above just fine but each to
His own
 
I
Yep, that’s part of my problem. I have this hankering for something very special that I can pass down after I have moved on to deer nirvana, though hopefully not for a while just yet!
thank you..
🦊🦊

I was in a similar situation, and chose a plain stainless.

Can't say I currently regret it. Ti's still a thing of beauty and had plenty of say in the design.

I was sent a scrap blank of the profile to the dimensions decided upon and lashed up a handle with kitchen towel liners and masking tape.

Sounds silly, but was able to leave it on the side and got in the habit of picking it up when walking past. The thinking being it needs to fit comfortably upon picking it up naturally, as if you handle it too much you'll just jostle it to feel 'right.

Yet to see field use though.
 

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A local chap has offered to make me a bespoke knife in damascus steel for gralloching - any advice on metal composition, shape of blade, type of handle etc. would be much appreciated.
thanks chaps
🦊🦊
Damasteel carrys a good reputation, but I can't claim to know of availability or cost.

Also, after a little reading (and still not much knowledge) I plumped for a flat grind.
Damasteel is a type of Damascus stainless steel that is meant to be good!
Damasteel is the trade name for a powder steel product, very hi tech producing very fine grain very hard and tough blades. They use a couple of different powders to get the pattern effect layered in a canister then heated and compressed.

Damascus steel is the traditional pattern welded material, forge welded from tool steel and wrought iron and/or mild steel strips by a blacksmith. The lump is repeatedly drawn out, twisted, cut up and bundled into a faggot and re firewelded, then worked to produce 100s of layers in the classic patterns. Hard cutting edge being derived from the tool steel and toughness from the mild...though there is a fair bit of carbon migration into the mild to make it also a low carbon tool steel.

If you are getting a knife made for you then I would follow the advice of the maker on metal composition, rather than ask a load of blokes on the internet, there is a good chance the knife maker will be better informed.

The shape of the blade I would go for a similar one to your current favourite gralloching knife. Too wide is not good for tunnelling out the back end.

The handle should have a good location/finger grip/guard to prevent slipping when covered in blood.

@Utectok 's in #5 is the sort of thing I would go for. Maybe a bit of a narrower blade for me.

Alan
 
I make a cut across at the base of the tail, hook my finger in and around the tract and then use the knife to do a coring action to cut around the sphincter. Bit more knife work with the urethra. That is what I was referring to as tunnelling. Sounds similar-ish to what you do, maybe I am using the wrong word.

Alan
 
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I would want to know what sort of steels he works with. I'm sure he knows several types very well. I would go stainless if possible. Here's my knife by the same maker as the previous Damascus one pictured. It's in R2 steel.. not common but holds an edge well and is easy to touch up on stones. This stag handle does not slip at all when wet.
 

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