[MR] Re: Real Wootz / Damascene / Damascus Steel

[Powers]

One Quibble; I would not call pattern welded blades "imitation damascus" as they 
were being done in Europe prior to the introduction of real wootz blades from 
the crusades.  Pattern welded patterns in general do not resemble wootz patterns 
and they did not "mutate" towards trying to look like wootz patterns during the 
middle ages.  Pattern welded is pattern welded and wootz is wootz. I think the 
idea that Northern Europe was trying to copy the Near East materials grew during 
the victorian time period and suffers from people looking backwards and pushing 
their biases back onto history.

Remember that European sword blades were considered to be high grade in the NE 
according to written reports of the period as well.


wilelm the smith  Who wishes the term "damascus" had *never* been applied to 
pattern welded as well as wootz!

(I'm working on a pattern welded spangen helm---I've been telling myself I 
needed to do some armouring for years now.  I am also the "helper" for Al 
Pendray at his demo at Quad-State this year.)