Sword blades

Damascus steel, also known in the Western world as Damascene steel, is a special type of steel that was and is still used to make sward and knifeblades. Apparently, Damascus steel was first made in India, where it was known as wootz or kuft, and later (during the second century b.c.e.) it was developed in Persia. The name "Damascus steel" was used by the Crusaders to describe the steel used by sword smiths of Damascus, Syria, famous for their ability to hammer and temper the steel into fine blades. The sword blades made from the steel had a reputation for their exceptional properties, especially their toughness, the retention of their cutting edge, as well as for a particular and characteristic decorative pattern on their surface (Figiel 1991). 

Damascus steel A hard and resilient decorated steel used for sword blades see... 

In connection with Letters Patent No. 5, dated Jan. 11, 1618, to Thomas Murraye for a newe invention for the sole making of sword blades, faulchions, skeynes, and rapier blades, authority was given to the patentee and his agents, with a constable, to enter and search places where they had cause to suspect the invention was being put in practice. 

Wootz steel later became known as Damascus steel because sword blades made from it had wavy surface patterns like Damask fabric. Damascus steel became famous because these swords kept their sharpness and strength after many battles. The knowledge of how to make Damascus steel was lost in the 1800s, but recently the process was redeveloped under the name superplastic steel. Collector hunting knives worth thou sands of dollars are being made from superplastic steel. 

During the first millennium B.C.E. a highly superior steel product was made in India, in a region near Hyderabad. Well known for its strength and its wavy patterned surface, it was especially desirable for making sword blades. Some think that the ore found in that area just happened to have the right impurities to give the steel special properties. The hot iron was... 

In medieval times sword blades were sometimes tinned to preserve them from rust, and analysis shows that inlaid inscriptions were sometimes executed in tin instead of silver. 

Charles Auguste Vandermonde (Paris 1735-1 January 1796), director (1782) of the Conservatoire pour les arts-et-metiers, was also an eminent mathematician ( Vandermonde s theorem , etc.) and wrote on the theory of music. He published on the cold of 1776 with Bezout and Lavoisier, and on the manufacture of bayonets and sword blades at Klingental, department of the Lower Rhine. ... 

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