Weren't the Belgians more prone to that? Greener's missives were pretty hard on them (but of course, W.W. was hard on anything that wasn't his or "properly English"). It was my understanding that true English Laminated steel was pretty good stuff, and that it appeared near the end of the damascus era. My little 1894 Bland Hammer 20 had London Proofs for something like 950 BAR. BTW-your above photo captures it perfectly!