Our Damascus beads are handmade by Zoe Crist from the highest quality 1095 and A203E steels, forge welded into a billet of "W" pattern Damascus steel. The billet is then hand forged all the way down to .5" square bar. This bar is then surface ground to achieve a true .5" square. Then the bar is placed in the milling machine and drilled and tapped at a 6mm thread each .5" of the bar. Then it is cut into pieces at .5" giving us a .5" x .5" x .5" square little chunk. Each bead is threaded onto the lathe and turned using various forming tools to achieve the general shape. After the bead is profiled it is hand finished to an 800 grit finish using various stones and paper. Then the beads are slipped onto a Stainless Steel rod and submerged in acid for an hour and a half to etch the steel and bring out the Damascus pattern. The beads are then neutralized and threaded back onto the lathe where they are polished using 2,000 grit sand paper to hit the high spots of the etch and leave the lower layers darker. Each bead is then inspected, oiled and prepared for shipment.

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