04-03-2013, 09:51 PM
As I stated in an earlier post in this thread, a pattern welded blade has different types of iron combined and twisted/intertwined to create the pattern. Damascus is what is the result of this way of combining different irons, the difference made visable by etching the blade, so bringing out the pattern.
Folding and welding different types of iron, mostly of different carbon content, was done in Roman times, as it was before. However, there was no twisting or intertwining to obtain a pattern, one sought to combine the properties of different kinds of iron (flexible and soft, ridgid and hard) in a blade. The cutting edge would have been the higher carbon iron/steel, the core the softer, more resilliant iron. This combined the best of both worlds. If such a blade were to be etched, just two lines running the length of the blade would be visible, namely there were the softer iron core and the steel edge met.
Folding and welding different types of iron, mostly of different carbon content, was done in Roman times, as it was before. However, there was no twisting or intertwining to obtain a pattern, one sought to combine the properties of different kinds of iron (flexible and soft, ridgid and hard) in a blade. The cutting edge would have been the higher carbon iron/steel, the core the softer, more resilliant iron. This combined the best of both worlds. If such a blade were to be etched, just two lines running the length of the blade would be visible, namely there were the softer iron core and the steel edge met.
