I am quite the fan of damascus as well, owning both damascus barreled shotguns and modern day damascus, hand forged, knives. All my damascus knives are by one little known maker, an old friend of mine who retired from knife making some years ago. I went to stay with him once and spent a day watching him hand forge a blade. It took him nigh on to eight hours, and he had motorized trip hammers and a motorized blower on his forge. He began with five layers and ended up, at the end of the process, with 320. My respect for a blade made this way cannot be over emphasized.
I "scored" a large fresh pork ham with one of those big blades early this morning, before my wife baked it, and then sliced the fresh baked ham with another one of the blades this evening to serve my family around the CHRISTmas dining table. It takes a very sharp blade to score the tough skin on the outside of a fresh pork ham, without "sawing" at it, but these blades will do it on one stroke. They take and hold sharpness extremely well and are gorgeous to look at. A long passed older farm employee once said, when handling one of the newly finished damascus knives, "Boss man, I could take this here knife into a juke on a Sattidy night and bring peace outta confusion." I did not doubt that one bit.
To refer to the pinnacle of damascus barrels, or knives, as art is not a stretch by any means. The later makers were able to incorporate repetitive patterns in them that were mind boggling. If I recall correctly the English makers built one gun that had the prime minister's name in the pattern scores of times. Another that stands out in my memory was the stars and stripes pattern, 'round and 'round the tubes. A true art form.
Edited to add: After watching the excellent video posted by DropLockBob I now better understand the different types of steel we call damascus. It reminded me of something that my friend, who made my knives, told me once. He said that he had gone to Florida and stayed about a week with a fellow to learn how to pattern weld steel blades. Now, I wonder if that fellow who taught him was indeed Al Pendray, shown in the video. I will ask him next time we talk.
