[TheForge] Wootz Lost?

[me at wargoth.com]

Indeed, I was merely tossing out a single "for example reference" I have
read most of the work available on the subject, as historic reproduction
knifemaking was my profession for several years before I turned to the
ornamental side of things. My complaint was more about how people who seem
to believe that "wootz" and "Damascus" are the same thing. I tend to use
vaguaries and common language when discussing things on the net, as I hate
getting trapped in the 500 page doctoral thesis variety of email post. And
now, off to bed as I have about 900' of railing to assemble in the morning.

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of James Binnion
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2012 6:34 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Wootz Lost?

Jason,

This is one of the problems with the internet, information gets mixed and
mashed up. For instance wootz is the anglicized version of ukku in the
languages of the states of Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, a term denoting
steel. India was the source for the high quality crucible steel used in the
original watered pattern "damascus steel". The name damascus steel came into
western use because the crusaders and other Europeans encountered it in the
middle east where Damascus was a principle trading center so it became
damascus steel. When the Europeans tried to duplicate it they utilized
pattern welding which was known to them as a technique to try to gain the
patterned properties of the wootz. This is where the terminology mix up of
pattern welding and wootz or damascus steel comes from. If you are
interested in the history of such attempts in the early 1800s Michael
Faraday did many well documented experiments trying to create wootz before
he turned his attention to electromagne
 tism.  Steve mentioned in his post wootz is a crucible steel and this is
what Dr Verhoeven and Al Pendray recreated in their experiments that the
article you referenced.

Here are several references

Pattern Formation In Wootz Damascus Steel Sword Blades by J.D. Verhoeven


http://materialiaindica.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/a-brief-history-of-material
s1metallurgical-heritage-of-india/


"Faraday and his Metallurgical Researches. With special reference to their
bearing on the development of alloy  steels" by Robert Abbott Hadfield


J.D. Verhoeven's page at Iowa State lists a dozen research papers he did on
wootz damascus steel.
http://www-archive.mse.iastate.edu/who-we-are/people/emeritus-professors/joh
n-verhoeven.html





James Binnion
jbin at well.com



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