Kevin,
Funny you linked to that style of knife, it is more popular in Japan than America.
This utilitarian style of knife is very common in Japan, and the most common found in supermarkets, when I lived in Japan. We have several of these, my wife uses some deba and hocho style knives. It is a much better value than the modern knives, but most Americans would rather have the newer, sleeker styling. These utilitarian type knives are the traditional knives in Japan, and how knives were forged.
The newer style knives, such as the Masashiro, are a modern breed of knife, and we have many of this type also...seems swiss steel is pretty popular and there's several companies that the Japanese partner with, so it seems...with German steel also...and they make their own steel also...the Japanese are very astute when it comes to steel.
Bryan,
Damascus is similar in many cases, but what is called Damascus today is more in reference to the pattern welded designs. On the Japanese swords, one trick they used was to put clay on the blade, when tempering, so that the heat/cool would form a wavy type line. They even have a strange calculation for determining how many bodies a sword is capable of slicing through, like a 5 body sword would cost more than a 2 body sword...the clay is how they would get a 5 body sword, as I recall, without cracking.
But back to the blade, the clay would really do a similar job, at the weld, so that it didn't crack. The Japanese learned that when you laminate a harder steel in the center, between two more durable and softer pieces of steel, the blades have a tendency to crack when put under stress. By using the clay, and creating a wavy line, it creates a more durable weld after it is tempered and placed into stress. The concept is similar though. They still need to have a piece of harder steel in the center to be able to retain an edge. Some folks don't care for a harder edge either, it is more difficult to sharpen. Softer steel will get a sharper edge, for the same abrasive, but the harder steel will retain it's edge longer. It is a trade-off in some cases. There are folks that prefer the ease of sharpening and it's ability to hold a sharper edge, that they wouldn't want a laminated blade. Others would prefer to spend more time getting the edge, in order to retain it longer.
It is a tedious process to pattern weld, it is an art form...look at this knife from the Japan Woodworker site...(for folks that don't mine spending $2k on a knife
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