By now most knife enthusiasts are familiar with pattern-welded steel, commonly called damascus, whose re-invention for use in knife blades is attributed to BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Bill Moran (page 50). The damascus world has since exploded with complicated mosaics, exotic-tiled canister billets, and, more recently, even some interaction between pattern welding and 3-D printing (page 42, November 2022 BLADE®). These new techniques are mind-blowing for sure.
One of the hottest new trends in damascus is the inclusion of copper into pattern-welded billets. Commonly called copper-mai, copper san-mai or cu-mai, the technique has been brought to near perfection by Coy Baker at Baker Forge & Tool. In 2019 at the request of a customer, Baker created his first copper damascus billet. Starting with Baker as a one-at-a-time weekend garage craftsman, the business exploded. Baker Forge & Tool now has a 3,000-square-foot shop and 10 employees, and they can’t keep up with demand!
Baker says the welding of copper in stacked configurations. While he’s the first to blow up Instagram with welded copper damascus, he is certainly not the first to attempt the cu-mai technique.
