Dmascus Dice
Forging Legendary Metals
What makes Damascus Steel so legendary, and so expensive? Long before modern metallurgy, Western crusaders encountered swords of mythic sharpness and beautiful, wavy patterns traded in the ancient markets of Damascus, Syria. While the secret of that original, ancient “wootz” steel was eventually lost to time, the city’s name stuck, forever becoming synonymous with the absolute pinnacle of the bladesmith’s art. Today, capturing that legendary look requires an exacting control of carbon and alloy content—something nature doesn’t just hand over, demanding advanced industrial steelmaking processes to achieve.
Ground to Perfection
Today we produce Damascus Steel by forge welding two dissimilar steel alloys together in a traditional blacksmith manner. In this case the Steel Alloys used are 1095 High Carbon Tool Steel and 15N20 Nickel Alloy Steel. Once we receive these custom forged billets, their first stop is to be machined in one of our state of the art 4 axis CNC mills. After they pass their post machining inspection, these legendary dice blanks are then hand ground to a 9 microns finish and polished to absolute perfection.
The Steelmaking Process
What makes Damascus Steel so expensive if iron is such a common element? As it turns out pure steel does not exist in nature and it is very difficult to extract the purest properties and precisely control the carbon content of the iron ore it is typically found in. Today, capturing that legendary look requires an exacting control of carbon and alloy content—something nature doesn’t just hand over, demanding advanced industrial steelmaking processes to achieve.
The Steelmaking process in a nut shell.
The journey begins in a colossal blast furnace, transforming raw iron ore into carbon-rich pig iron. This molten iron is then blasted with pure oxygen to burn away impurities, turning it into purified molten steel while the waste is separated into slag. Next, the metal moves into an electric arc furnace, where it is alloyed under intense, crackling heat with precise amounts of carbon and nickel. These base alloys are then hot-rolled into the pristine steel plates used by master smiths need to forge those legendary patterns found in Damascus Steel.
From the ancient trade routes of Syria to the high-tech furnaces of today, this process remains insanely complex, difficult to master, and consumes an incredible amount of energy. You can read more about the fascinating history and science of steelmaking over on the ASM International website. They are the premier experts in the field of iron and steel production.
Forged by Master Smiths
Creating a Damascus Steel Billet, especially one over an inch thick, is a labor intensive and time consuming process which only the most skilled craftsmen can accomplish. By repeatedly hammering, twisting, and folding the dissimilar steel billets together, the craftsman can create a number of different patterns in the final forge welded steel billet. All the while the steel billets must kept above the forging temp of 2300°F and under a layer of protective flux to prevent oxidation.
Acid Etched Perfection
This is a chemical oxidation process applied by hand to each die. The artisan’s skill here is showcased in the high contrast pattern unique to each individual dice. This pattern will range in a spectrum of tones from deep, matte grays, through shimmering silvers, to stark midnight blacks.
Just how are we able to attain such a striking pattern variation? Through science of course! Our Acid Etching process involves an exceedingly precise chemical bath, using a concentrated ferric chloride solution to be exact. Under this soak of pure distilled alchemical bite, the base metal undergoes a surface transformation by reacting with the acidic solution. This reaction eats away at the high-carbon layers while leaving the nickel steel intact, making the striking Damascus patterns beautifully tactile.
Brewed for Darkness
The Coffee Darkening process creates the ultra-high contrast patterns you see here. Borrowing a legendary finishing secret from master bladesmiths, this technique relies on a highly concentrated bath of an unexpected special ingredient: extra-strong dark roast coffee. The chemistry boils down to a precise reaction between the rich tannic acids naturally present in the brew and the exposed molecules of the high-carbon tool steel. This chemical bond creates a layer of iron tannate—a deep, matte compound that violently punches up the dark stripes for extra contrast while the nickel-alloy steel completely resists the staining. This gives each and every die an aggressively high-contrast, one-off pattern. Utilizing this bladesmith secret means we are able to expand our visual depth from the typical uniform gray of our normal steel dice and explode into the rich, hyper-defined swirls, ladders, and twists you’ll see in some of the d20s available here.
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These single d20s are crafted from Damascus Steel, an insanely prized material carrying the historic weight of ancient Syrian trade hubs and mythic Crusader lore. Created by forge welding two dissimilar steel alloys together in the traditional blacksmith manner, each die revives a legendary aesthetic once lost to time, ready to bring mythic style to your next critical roll.
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