THE MYSTERY OF DAMASCUS STEEL APPEARS SOLVED
TWO metallurgists at Stanford University, seeking to produce
a ''superplastic'' metal, appear to have stumbled on the secret of Damascus
steel, the legendary material used by numerous warriors of the past, including
the Crusaders. Its formula had been lost for generations.
The remarkable characteristics of Damascus steel became
known to Europe when the Crusaders reached the Middle East, beginning in the
11th century. They discovered that swords of this metal could split a feather
in midair, yet retain their edge through many a battle with the Saracens. The
swords were easily recognized by a characteristic watery or ''damask'' pattern
on their blades.
Through the ages - perhaps from the time of Alexander the
Great in the fourth century B.C. -the armorers who made swords, shields and
armor from such steel were rigidly secretive regarding their method. With the
advent of firearms, the secret was lost and never fully rediscovered, despite
the efforts of men like P. Anossoff, the Russian metallurgist, who knew the
steel as bulat.
Most, if not all, Damascus steel was derived from blocks of
''wootz,'' a form of steel produced in India.
The finest blades ever made, he added, were the Samurai
swords of Japan, whose blades may contain a million layers of steel. The layers
resulted from hammering out a bar to double its original length, then folding
it over as many as 32 times.
The multiple layers used by the Japanese and by makers of
the Malay dagger or kris are sometimes referred to as ‘welded Damascus steel’.
Although the production method differs from that of true Damascus steel, the
blades may show a very similar pattern.
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