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A Layman's Understanding of Damascus Steel
By Parker Brown
ARMA Denton, TX

The term "Damascus steel" can refer o two different types of ferrous
(containing iron) materials characterized by the watery pattern
produced from the controlled mixture and physical manipulation of the
iron and steel. Western Europeans were first introduced to this
material around the 3rd-4th centuries from the historical trading
center of Damascus, in present-day Syria. While there are examples of
this material being produced in Damascus itself, its technical and
physical origins are from India and the Middle East. Damascus steel is
not to be confused with damascene, which is a process of inlaying gold
leaf onto the surface of steel for the purpose of decoration.

Cast Damascus steel, known as wootz, was popular in the East. It's
produced by melting pieces of iron and steel with charcoal in a
reducing atmosphere (lacking oxygen). During the process, the metals
absorb carbon from the charcoal and the resulting alloy is cooled at a
very slow rate. This produces a material with a visible crystalline
structure of varying carbide contents. Forging the material into a
desired shape (such as a sword blade) alters the crystalline structure
into the familiar waving or watered pattern that Damascus steel is
known for. This technique is extremely work intensive and requires a
high degree of skill to keep the necessary temperatures constant
throughout the process. The resulting volume of material produced is
substantial enough for a larger-scale production house, but would be
impractical for smaller individually produced pieces.

Fabricated Damascus steel, known as pattern-welded steel, was more
popular in the West and produced essentially the same product as wootz
with less labor and less yield. Layering two or more linear elements
of iron and steel and forge welding them together produced
pattern-welded steel. Forge welding requires the stacking of two
pieces of metal and hammering the two together while the whole is at a
high temperature. The surfaces of the individual metals are at the
near molten state while the core of the metal is still solid. By
forcing the surfaces together at this temperature (with the presence
of a flux to seal the joint off from oxygen), the result is a welded
bond, essentially forcing the two metals into one. Stretching out the
length of the composite material and forge welding it back onto itself
results in multiple layers that can be manipulated to produce the same
watered pattern as wootz.

Besides their beautiful aesthetic appearances, both wootz and
pattern-welded steels produced a metal that was harder and more
flexible than traditional wrought iron. These features were critical
in the making of a long bladed weapon, such as a sword. While the use
of wootz steel is primarily linked to India and the Middle East,
Norwegian smiths were masterfully producing pattern-welded blades in
the 6th century A.D., centuries before the famed pattern-welded katana
developed during Japan's Kamakura period (ca. 1185-1333). However,
despite its famed durability and quality, Damascus steel is a
relatively heterogeneous (unevenly mixed) material in comparison to
modern high-carbon steels produced using the 19th century Bessemer
process. For its time, it was a magnificent material that was costly
and expensive to produce and allowed smiths to produce quality
long-bladed weapons.

Parker Brown is an apprentice armorer and proprietor of Crescent Moon Armoury.