I really love the knives I’ve been making in this size and shape, so I decided to do one in Damascus! The steel I made for it is over 100 layers of alternating 1095 and 15n20. I forged the blade right to shape from this billet. I hammered distal tapers running from the ricasso to both the tip and tail of the blade. This helps balance the knife, but also makes it feel even lighter than it already is! I really wanted the handle to pop so I selected some stabilized and purple dyed curly maple. The curls turned black against the purple and I used brass and mosaic pins to laterally secure it to the tang.