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Posted by hipstomp / Rain Noe | 31 Aug 2010
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Comments (8)
I was reading this article on Top Ten Lost Technologies and came across an interesting tidbit about Damascus Steel, one of only two materials to make the list (the other being Roman Cement). Damascus Steel was a super-strong Middle Eastern forged metal used from roughly 1100 A.D. to 1700 A.D. It was said to be able to cut through rocks and other people's swords, making it the bad-ass material of its day.
Sadly, the "recipe" for making Damascus Steel no longer exists, and they've not been able to reverse-engineer how to make it. In any case, below is the passage that struck me, boldface mine:
The particular process for forging Damascus steel appears to have disappeared sometime around 1750 AD. The exact cause for the loss of the technique is unknown, but there are several theories. The most popular is that the supply of ores needed for the special recipe for Damascus steel started running low, and sword makers were forced to develop other techniques. Another is that the whole recipe for Damascus steel--specifically the presence of carbon nanotubes--was only discovered by accident, and that sword smiths didn't actually know the technique by heart. Instead, they would simply forge the swords en masse, and test them to determine which met the standards of Damascus steel. Whatever the technique, Damascus steel is one technology that modern experimenters have been unable to fully reproduce.
Comments
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
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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