bahamaroot
Idiot Savant
What is the difference between Damascus vs Suminagashi?
Damascus vs Suminagashi
- Thread starter bahamaroot
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Suminagashi is a very particular pattern that derives from techniques used to dye paper to make it look like marble. That's all I know. Damascus can mean a whole of different things from wootz steel, to clad knives, to pattern welding, to knives etched with a Damascus looking pattern.
bahamaroot
Idiot Savant
Your usual helpful self....Japanese vs english language
HRC_64
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IIRC suminigashi is a particular pattern for the pattern (they have names for waves, clouds, etc)
A japanese speaker would probably clarify the linguistic and social context of the word.
For us, it generally specifies "non-kasumi" and "non-monosteel" (honnyaki) when makers
have different options for cladding/contrsuction or levels of finish in a given line of knifes.
A japanese speaker would probably clarify the linguistic and social context of the word.
For us, it generally specifies "non-kasumi" and "non-monosteel" (honnyaki) when makers
have different options for cladding/contrsuction or levels of finish in a given line of knifes.
bahamaroot
Idiot Savant
Much better.
milkbaby
Well-Known Doofus
To me the practical difference is that the knife term suminigashi is taken from the Japanese ink art "floating ink" that produces wavy patterns on paper called "paper marbling".
A multilayer clad san mai billet when forged and bevels ground will produce a pattern visually similar to the suminigashi ink art.
Modern damascus steel usually refers to pattern welded steel, basically different steels are welded together and a pattern is formed through various manipulations. The suminigashi pattern on a multilayer cladded san mai is probably the simplest as the pattern is just random and formed from how the different steel layers are deformed (I say steel but other materials can be layered like iron and nickel). Often, the welded layers are manipulated in other ways like cutting, folding, drilling, twisting, highly technical squishing, and re-layered and welded again to form interesting patterns. These damascus patterns below are not formed by only forging multiple layers simply stacked and welded but require the other manipulations.
Random damascus:
Feather damascus:
Ladder damascus:
Twist damascus:
MURICA damascus: (yes this is pattern welded, not an etched design)
A multilayer clad san mai billet when forged and bevels ground will produce a pattern visually similar to the suminigashi ink art.
Modern damascus steel usually refers to pattern welded steel, basically different steels are welded together and a pattern is formed through various manipulations. The suminigashi pattern on a multilayer cladded san mai is probably the simplest as the pattern is just random and formed from how the different steel layers are deformed (I say steel but other materials can be layered like iron and nickel). Often, the welded layers are manipulated in other ways like cutting, folding, drilling, twisting, highly technical squishing, and re-layered and welded again to form interesting patterns. These damascus patterns below are not formed by only forging multiple layers simply stacked and welded but require the other manipulations.
Random damascus:
Feather damascus:
Ladder damascus:
Twist damascus:
MURICA damascus: (yes this is pattern welded, not an etched design)
ojisan
Senior Member
Suminagashi is a trademark of Kiya in Japan.
