Narrator: This is a Damascus knife.
Master bladesmith Zack Jonas is twisting a fusion of steels
to make one of its trademark swirl patterns.
But these unique swirls are more than just decorative.
Successfully welding dozens,
or even thousands, of steel layers
creates some of the strongest
and sharpest knives money can buy.
What starts as individual layers
of two different alloys transforms into this:
a 7-inch chef's knife that retails for $700.
Some of Zack's knives cost $5,000,
and commissions can reach well over $17,000.
So, how are swirl patterns made from steel?
And why are Damascus knives so expensive?
Zack: What people tend to notice right away
when looking at Damascus is that visual pattern,
and it ranges from very, very bold and big layers
to very, very fine and shimmery layers.
And you're going to see that pattern jump out at you,
and you're going to see the way the light plays off of it,
and it's going to shimmer
and look almost holographic at times.
Narrator: The bladesmithing community
refers to this effect as chatoyance,
or the shine of a cat's eye.
Aside from the striking pattern,
quality Damascus knives are known to be hard but flexible
and able to maintain a sharp edge.
To make Damascus steel, Zack starts
by layering two different kinds of high-carbon steel.
Managing the layers means more work for the smith.
And while high-end mono-steel knives may perform similarly,
Damascus knives are coveted for their striking appearance
and the craftsmanship required to achieve it.
After tacking the layers together,
Zack puts the stack in the forge
and heats it to about 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
He needs an experienced eye
to judge when the steel is ready,
because it's at risk of breaking off the handle
while the layers are not yet forge-welded together.
Zack needs to consider the kind of pattern he wants to make
before he can begin forging.
A bold pattern means fewer layers,
and a more intricate pattern can require several thousand.
And working with so many layers
to achieve his intended design
means lots of things can go wrong.
Out of thousands of hammer strikes,
a single blow in the wrong place can ruin the pattern.
Even when the pattern is done to perfection,
Zack has to forge the steel into a knife
without distorting the design.
And if he forges the steel when it's too cold,
it can crack and he has to start over,
which for Damascus steel can mean
losing weeks' worth of work.
Once he forge-welds the steel into a long bar,
Zack can begin folding over the layers.
The layer count has the most effect on the price.
The more layers, the more folding and work for Zack,
which means a higher price point.
The pattern on this particular knife,
called Texas wind, has only 45 layers,
which is why Zack sells it for just under $1,000.
But his more expensive knives can have 5,000 layers,
and that can take a month to complete,
giving it a higher price tag.
Zack: So, you can see I'm twisting the steel
with this wrench. It's got to be real hot.
If it gets too cool, the layers will want to shear
and come apart, and then the piece is trash.
I'm keeping track of the rate that I'm twisting at
and counting as I go.
Narrator: This technique is specific to twist Damascus,
and it creates starlike patterns on the steel.
Zack: Too much twisting, and the steel will want to shear.
But the tighter the twist, the more dramatic the pattern.
And that'll do it.
Narrator: When Zack is making a standard
Damascus wave pattern, he continues to work
on elongating and thinning the bar using a power hammer.
Zack's larger power hammer cost him $20,000.
But that's just a drop in the bucket.
He's spent at least $100,000 on specialized machinery.
But this large investment allows Zack
to produce high-quality Damascus knives.
Once Zack forges the tip of the blade,
he cross-checks it with his template
to ensure the knife looks exactly as it should.
Zack: Now it needs to undergo a metallurgical change,
which is called heat treatment.
And this part is hardening.
And without doing this,
the thing might be shaped like a knife,
but it won't behave like a knife.
It won't take an edge. It won't hold an edge.
So the heat treatment is really, really a critical process,
and it determines the metallurgy
and therefore the performance of the finished knife.
Narrator: But it's the quenching
that makes or breaks the knife.
Sometimes a blade will fail in the quench
by cracking or warping irretrievably.
Zack: Looks like the blade came through
the hardening process really well.
It's straight. It doesn't have much warping.
Little warps can be corrected,
and I can see that the scale has blown away
from the surface of the steel here,
which tells me that the steel has contracted
and become hard.
And that's what I was looking for.
So now this is ready for finish grinding
and then a handle.
The grinding operation is one of the areas
where the skill is kind of most important and most obvious,
and this is one of the things that really drives the cost.
A single slip can ruin the piece in an instant.
Narrator: The handle is also an important factor
when pricing the final product.
Some materials, like local maple,
are more affordable for Zack,
but this Arizona ironwood costs him 10 times as much.
It's also a harder wood than maple
and requires more work to shape.
Zack designs the handles
so they serve the purpose of the knife.
He makes kitchen-knife handles slim
but large enough for the chef to have a firm grip.
A hunting knife, on the other hand,
requires different properties.
It might be used with cold or wet hands,
which can cause them to slip.
The final step in creating a Damascus knife is the etching,
which makes the pattern bolder to the eye.
Once dipped in the etchant mixture,
one of the alloys oxidizes and turns darker,
while the other alloy resists, maintaining its color.
Now the Damascus pattern is revealed.
But Zack isn't done yet.
He needs to assess the quality of his creation.
Let's test the edge.
And I use paper for this. This is a simple test.
It should glide through with no problem.
Narrator: This knife is razor-sharp,
with no dullness that needs adjusting.
It's ready to sell to chefs like Diego Moya.
Diego has been a chef for 27 years
and focuses on vegetable cookery.
Diego: I've had some sharp knives,
but this one kind of out of the gate
just feels like it glides through
without any resistance at all.
It's pretty amazing.
You basically, it just does exactly
what your arm wants it to do.
You don't have to fight it.
Narrator: He's using a 10-inch chef's knife made by Zack,
which costs $1,200.
I think the experience is one of effortlessness.
I think you just forget that you're using a knife.
And I think that when you forget you're using a knife
and you use your arm to produce the cutting motion,
that's pure bliss.
For this kind of experience, you have to pay the price.
Narrator: Zack's buyers typically know the work
that's gone into the knife they purchase
and the skill level required
to make a quality Damascus knife.
Zack is one of the fewer-than-200 master bladesmiths
designated by the American Bladesmith Society.
To earn the title, they must successfully produce
a Damascus blade with a minimum of 300 layers.
The blade must be strong, tough, sharp, and balanced.
In Zack's case, he had to take the test twice
before getting the mastersmith title.
The knife performance test includes cutting through a 2-by-4
and even shaving hair off his arm.
But it was the presentation test that set Zack back
because of a 10-degree misalignment in the handle.
Since becoming a mastersmith, Zack has continued
to evolve his skills in Damascus-making.
One of his current projects
might sell for over $100,000
if it's officially commissioned.
Zack: So, this is a project that I've been working on
designing for quite a while.
This is a very elaborate Middle Eastern sword,
a type of scimitar.
This is a rough-ground blade
that I forged out of 1,500-layer Damascus.
Narrator: The demand for Damascus knives
has created a market for fake Damascus,
where manufacturers imprint
the swirl patterns on the knife
and sell it at a more affordable price.
You can get a Damascus knife for 30 bucks,
but it will not cut anything for you.
There's definitely a growing demand for Damascus steel.
When I started out knife-making,
it was not super well known,
and I've really seen it myself in the last 15 years or so
as the cultural awareness has come up
and people really understand what they're looking at.