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  Dave

  13 years ago

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  The steels produced in the last 10 years are equal to or better than these ancient techniques produced. The facts are ahead of the media, again, and we'll need to wait another ten years for the press to catch up.
  
  The forge welded Damascus of today's bladesmiths are exactly the "recipe" for the ancient techniques, only materials today are much more pure and the equipment used is much more precise. As well, we have a better understanding of the microscopic world and can not only produce but also explain exceptional steels and how they are made. What for the ancients seemed miraculous is merely technology today.
  
  Try Blade Magazine, or any of a number of other publications to read up on today's products and methods. Some of it is fascinating and highly technical and makes you wonder not necessarily HOW they accomplished it in the old days, but how they CONSISTENTLY accomplished it, given the specifics and tolerances of things involved.
  
  Humorous how many wives' tales and urban legend is quoted in amongst these comments. People used to be more educated, today we're just loud and eager to spew ignorance.

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    Benjamin B

    7 years ago

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    Hi Dave,

    You should be wringing for Core77 instead of this Rain Noe.  It really feels to me that most of her articles seem to have been written in a mad rush the night before.

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  John

  10 years ago

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  See research into Superplastic steel. I think Stamfford Univeristy has done the most work on this. Their research sheds light on the tale of Damascus!

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  Leude Sedah

  11 years ago

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  Most of the comments here are not informed enough, pattern welding was a European attempt to replicate the Damascus blades that the crusaders were finding in the hands of the middle east during their crusades. While it did increase the strength of the blade, it was not true Damascus steel. The reason they did it was because it gives the blade the same watery pattern you can find on a true Damascus blade. We actually do know the material that such swords were made out of, it was the Indian Wootz steel. Due to the process of heating and cooling of a mixture of steel, iron, and coal, carbon crystals could be found at the microscopic level inside the steel. What we do not know however, is the process that the Middle Eastern swordsmiths used on the wootz steel to make their Damascus Steel blades.

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  Maddy Vines

  11 years ago

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  Hi, i was wondering is you could possibly help me. I am doing a project on nanoteching steel. I have to design a product using nanotechnology steel.
  
  I was wondering if you could possibly answer this question: are there any products currently out there have used the same method in damasucs steel today.
  Thank you so much

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  mantra

  14 years ago

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  Two people have re-discovered how to make authentic damascus steel. Google Alfred Pendray and Dr John Verhoeven to find out more.
  
  Basically, what passes for damascus steel is pattern welded steel and not genuine Damascus steel.

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  Ahmed Skaka

  14 years ago

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  So much for modern progress...
  
  There are signs all around us which demonstrate the ARROGANCE os modern man to leave tradition - something we know from 1000s of years of experience. We have lost more than just a manufacturing process, we have lost our way!
  
  Not until we return to our traditions and regain whatever is left will we see any real progress.
  
  BTW: did you know that the native people of Aceh were told in their tradition to run to the hill when they see the ocean recede, so they did, they avoided the harm than many 'modern men' and there is their own video evidence, thought was intriguing and went to enquire...little did and do they/we know.

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  Pancho

  14 years ago

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  I think I read a paper where it was said Damascus having two meanings: the material, and the method to work steel.
  
  Acero de Damasco (por el material)... o acero damasquinado (por el proceso)

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  atohms

  14 years ago

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  I think this article hits a sour spot... We think we know best but yet we keep re-inventing things. Cavemen used to communicate over great distances with smoke signals or a piece of wood attached to a string. We think we know all yet we forgot a lot.

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  Taylor

  14 years ago

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  I own a set of kitchen knives using Damascus steel. From my understanding the base material is a mild steel, which is heated, and folded, and heated, and folded... some Japanese sword making families even suggest up to 600 times (but they all have their own secret number / process). I think what this article is really trying to illustrate is that we cannot make Damascus steel or something so sharp and strong with common technology/manufacturing processes without manually going about this painstaking process by hand.

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  Some guy

  14 years ago

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  From my understanding Damascus isn't so much the material, but the method of working. Ask a blacksmith, and they'll tell you it involves a process of folding and remelting the steel in a forge. I bet someone down at Southern Illinois University could tell you quite a bit about Damascus

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