Product description
The Viking pocket knife features a sharpened 256-layer Damascus steel blade. The handle is crafted from bone and adorned with period details. As the knife is fully hand-crafted, the ornaments may slightly vary from piece to piece.
The terms Damascus steel, damascene or pattern welded designate a compound steel forged from two or more different types of steel. It is named after its birthplace, the Syrian city of Damascus, a former stronghold of patterned steel production. As common practice, a harder high carbon steel and a milder low carbon steel are repeatedly forge welded and folded together. The high carbon steel ensures a higher hardness, a better temperability and longer lasting edge retention, whilst the milder steel confers greater blade flexibility and tensile strength. This procedure, which arose in a time when steel qualities were often low and inconsistent, permits the combination of the positive attributes of the various steel grades. Besides, the different shadings generated by the varying carbon content of the alternating layers engender strikingly beautiful patterns, such as the twisted motif called the Torsion Damascus pattern or the Rose Damascus pattern. Undoubtedly, these distinctive patterns partly explain why inherent magical properties were attributed to the Damascus steel blades of the Middle Ages.
