need help with damascus

I just bought this takamura gyuto. Is this damascus real or fake? I bought this knife thinking it was real damascus but now Im not so sure..
This picture is from the web because I am having trouble uploading my own photo. But is there a way to tell if its laser etched or if its real damascus?

The whole blade is not pattern-welded steel, nor is it "laser etched".

It's layered stainless steel cladding with an R2 powdered steel core.

Very nice knife.

sounds cool they are about double the price of a Migaki

Could you elaborate more on difference between patter-welded steel vs layered stainless steel cladding? I could not find much on google.

Pattern-welded steel would be a block of steel formed folded over itself repeatedly then shaped into the blade, a clad-steel blade has two parts, the solid (non Damascus) core, in this case, of R2 steel, and over the top of that another piece of Damascus steel. This can either be san-mai or Warikomi where two pieces of Damascus between a single piece of steel. Here is a great website that explains it better http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/jpnktknvterms.shtml

edit: mixed up the two here is a visual: http://zknives.com/knives/articles/jpnknifecladtypes.shtml

The cladding is a softer iron or steel jacket that is wrapped around or sandwiched on the outside of the core steel. In this case the cladding is made from two different steels folded together then etched to bring out the pattern.

If it matters at all I've wanted one for a while.

Can anyone show an example of a knife having "laser etched damascus"?

Pensacola Tiger said:

Can anyone show an example of a knife having "laser etched damascus"?

Click to expand...

the only one I can think of......

So laser etched is a mono steel knife with laser etch to make it look pretty???

cclin said:

the only one I can think of......

Click to expand...

What knife is that, Charles?

Looks like a Kyocera ceramic to me.

Pensacola Tiger said:

What knife is that, Charles?

Click to expand...

Kyocera’s Kyotop Series

Ucmd said:

So laser etched is a mono steel knife with laser etch to make it look pretty???

Click to expand...

It doesn't have to be mono steel, I don't see why you can't laser etch over cladding

cclin said:

the only one I can think of......

Click to expand...

I have this knife. Haven't used it in years.

For people who are curious about the performance of this knife : I have used the micro carbide 66 in miyabi series and the r2 in this knife is quite different. It doesn't seem to chip easily as the zdp 189, and edge retention seems better. Way better. The r2 in this particular knife is alot easier to sharpen also. Now Im curious what cowry-x feels like. Perfectly balanced for pinch grip for me. The knife is a bit on the heavy side, and I wouldn't consider it a laser either. Only if it had damascus like hattori KD or Devin Thomas knives...

Welcome to the forum.Sounds like a pretty good blade.You must have some Japanese single bevels too.

/storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera/IMG_20140329_065745.jpg

/storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera/IMG_20140329_065745.jpg

ok I give up trying to post pictures.

akirapuff said:

ok I give up trying to post pictures.

Click to expand...

Looks like you might be trying to upload directly from your pc? you need to use Dropbox or something similar and link the pictures that way, there is a thread on here somewhere explaining it:thumbsup:

WarrenB said:

Looks like you might be trying to upload directly from your pc? you need to use Dropbox or something similar and link the pictures that way, there is a thread on here somewhere explaining it:thumbsup:

Click to expand...

How do I post an image?

Pensacola Tiger said:

How do I post an image?

Click to expand...

:yeahthat::biggrin:

[/URL][/IMG]

Ah ok I know how to do the photobucket method now..