First of all, Damascus is the capital of Syria so the credit for the sharp and strong blades of Damascus steel goes to Syria. So, Damascus steel is mostly imported from Syria. And whenever something is imported in a country several companies start making dupes of that product and certain stores shamelessly claim to sell the original steel when they are selling you the cheap ones.
Damascus steel is most commonly used in the formation of knives. These knives are so pretty, and you can show off that knife because they are also a bit expensive than the usual carbon steel. And their blades are quite strong and in general, these knives are quite durable. What bums a person out is when he pays a couple of hundred bucks for an original Damascus steel knife and it doesn’t even turn out to be real. But that problem is not that big if you know what real Damascus looks like. A lot of the time it is quite easy to spot a fake one because they are either laser engraved or have weird patterns on them.
HANDLES OF THE DAMASCUS KNIVES
You can tell a real Damascus steel knife by its handle. The handles of these knives are mostly made of bones, horns, and wood. And sometimes the blade is fixed in the bone and the bone is further attached to some wood with a small piece of horn in between.
BLADE PATTERNS
The important point here is that rough cuts on the blades or rough handles of the knives do not fall under the category of weird patterns. The matter of fact is that many of the Damascus steel knives have rough cuts. If the patterns stay consistent throughout the piece from the point the blade is cut down where it goes up to the mid of the knife and right at the very edge, then you should be positive about that knife. You can catch the cheap or fake ones with your fingernails and can feel the ridges in the blades.
SPINE OF THE KNIFE
After that, you have to check the back of the knife and see if the whole spine has the same pattern as well. If the pattern all over is the same and has continuity, then it is an original piece. Also, look if the spine when it reaches up to the handle is polished out. When Damascus steel is polished it looks like a very nice regular steel. But the real Damascus is only polished near the handles and when the blade part starts the unpolished Damascus shine through. Fire marks on the back of the blade is also an important sign of a real Damascus because then you can see the folds and they are the same patterns as the whole blade. So, that’s another way to tell if it’s a legit one or not.
