A Pattern Welded Katar

[Lew]

Here is a strange beast. I picked this up this week and it arrived the other day. Now all of the katars that I have seen are made from one type of wootz blade or another but this one is pattern welded. It is quite heavy and thick compared to my others. What I find interesting is the dark steel at the tip. I have seen a number of wootz katars with the tips broken off this makes me think that these wootz tips were a bit on the brittle side? Maybe this smith forged this one out of pattern welded steel to give it a more resilient tip.

[Battara]

I've seen this piece in hand and it is indeed interesting and odd.

[ALEX]

Lew,
Your logic does make sense. Wootz is brittle. When it comes to sword blades, it has great strength against cutting-edge directed impact, but not against front or side impact. This katar may very well be an attempt to addres this weakness (perhaps similarly to scarf-welding effect and heat-treated/tempered edge). I cannot think of another examples/references, but you may be on to something. Good thinking!

[A. G. Maisey]

Going back about thirty years I handled a beautiful katar that was forged with a chevron pattern. It was exceptional.

I've never attempted it, but I rather think that welding wootz to ordinary material that had been pattern welded might be just a wee bit tricky.

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Going back about thirty years I handled a beautiful katar that was forged with a chevron pattern. It was exceptional.

I've never attempted it, but I rather think that welding wootz to ordinary material that had been pattern welded might be just a wee bit tricky.

Hi Alan,

Haven't we seen blades with wootz on one side and laminated/pattern welded on the other?
Seem to remember such a discussion from a while back......?


Lew,

Nice katar mate.
Were it just darkened with patina I would heve suggested an etch because I'd have thought simply from the style that wootz was a good possibility.
However, that said I've seen plenty of nice indian blades with interesting laminated 'patterns' (although not usually Katar).
I agree that we do see a lot of Katar with tips missing and this would seem to be an excellent method of strengthening that area.
I think that now that we are all wootz obcessed we are going to see a lot of 'investigations' into blade construction turning up interesting results during the search for wootz, as pretty much all old blades get 'tested'.
I've seen a few Tulwar turning up recently with laminated/pattern welded blades.

Best
Gene

[Rick]

The pattern would most likely be lost from the welding temps ?

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Rick

The pattern would most likely be lost from the welding temps ?

LOL, I think that formed part of the discussion.... or am I losing the plot?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Atlantia

LOL, I think that formed part of the discussion.... or am I losing the plot?

No Gene .

IIRC it was a sword; wootz on one side, plain steel (again IIRC) on the other .. wootz can be scarf-welded of course .

Possibly it was in Artzi's possesion ???