Hello and greetings to all. I found this forum and thread today, coming over from Primal Fires. I'm a custom knifemaker that works with a variety of materials, including some Damascus barstock, occasionally forging my own. I signed up several years back as a distributor for an Indian company that makes repro pieces, although have since quit bothering with their stuff, due to quality issues and such. Plus, I found it was only serving to distract me from my core business: making my own knives and selling them. ANY-ways, the short of it is that they started offering 'Wootz' a year or two ago, and sent me a lump of it to evaluate. I did polish up a section and etch it, to check out the grain, but they wanted too much $, so I didn't keep it. However, I have an abiding interest in ancient metallurgy and Wootz in particular. I wanted to thank you for all of the information, it's been quite pleasant to read. Also, I would comment that the steel you make, and the subsequent blades, Jeff, is quite impressive. Thanks for sharing that info.
I've been mad about seaxes lately, and stuck (LOL!) on them. Here's the latest creation, for whomever may be interested. I forged the 8" blade out of 01 and left the exxagerated hammered texture on it, to simulate an 'ancient' look. Curly Bubinga handle with Damascus fittings.
Sincerely,
Michael
www.radharcknives.com