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History
Several other steel making techniques, such as wootz steel also result in patterned surfaces and have often been sold as Damascus steel, Damascened steel and sometimes watered steel. The most common technique today for producing these materials is pattern welding, which is widely used for custom knife making. Modern Damascus steel is usually made by pattern welding two tool steels, one with high nickel content, appearing bright, the other appearing more grey so that alternating steels produce light-dark stripes. Treating or pickling the steel with dilute acid after polishing enhances the pattern by darkening one of the steels more than the other. Folding and twisting while hammer forging controls the striped pattern, and the method used is often trademarked. Skilled swordsmiths can manipulate the layered patterns to mimic the complex designs found in the surface of the original, medieval Damascus steel. Some knife artists begin with stacking steel wires and through folding can produce repeating images along a blade, such as a crossed U.S. flags. Stacking wires is a speciality of the Cable Damascus technique, a new age development. The advent of steel wire rope (1830's) provided mid-west blacksmiths a way to make corn harvester's machetes (cable knives).
One explanation of the legendary properties of Damascus steel is that the pattern consists of alternating bands of very hard, but brittle iron carbide or cementite and softer more flexible iron. Another possibility is that the steel contains a small amount of vanadium, which would theoretically strengthen the blade . The legendary steel may have been a happy accident by way of the limited production methods. Original Damascus steel billet was formed from a small disk that was hammer folded/forged into its final shape. Unlike northern European methods, the ferro-smelting technique in Persia during the Middle Ages involved small bowl-type crucibles with lids, baked in a mound-type oven often used for bread. Controlling the air contact to the melt, as well as trace elements found locally, all combined to produce a steel blade noticeably better than its contemporaries.
Carbon nanotubes and nanowires were found in a sample of a 17th century sword forged from Damascus steel. The complex process of forging and annealing is thought to have accounted for the nano-scale structures.
The origins of the name Damascus remains somewhat controversial. Damascus steel was originally made using ore with a certain chemical composition from a mine that is now exhausted, so attempts at reproduction are difficult at best.
It would seem obvious that the name Damascus refers to swords forged in Damascus, but there are several other possible sources of the name. One is the name of the swordsmith himself: the author al-Beruni refers to swords made by a man he names Damashqi. Another author, al-Kindi, refers to swords made in Damascus as Damascene. This word has often been employed as an epithet in various Eastern European legends (Sabya Damaskinya or Sablja Dimiskija meaning "Damascene saber"), of which perhaps the best known are the Serbian legends of Prince Marko, a historical figure of the late 14th century in what is now the Republic of Macedonia.
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