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#1 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 30
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Dear members, I would like to kindly request your opinions on this blade which appears to be made of wootz steel.
I am a newbie to ethnographic weapons but this one seems to be someone fishy to me. |
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#2 |
EAAF Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Upstate New York, USA
Posts: 909
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This blade is made of a coarsely laminated steel in which layers of contrasting alloys have first been forged parallel to the flat faces of the 'proto -' blade and then a design drilled out and the whole then reforged flat and ground to disclose the disturbances created in the layering. It appears to be a good piece of work although I cannot tell how old it is.
Please see this article elsewhere on the site for a further discussion. |
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Russia
Posts: 1,042
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This is a modern work from India or Pakistan ... The end of the 20-th century ...
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#4 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 459
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I have a collector friend who owns wootz steel persian antique blade bought from christie. Old blade does not looks new, that is one of the sign. And real old wootz steel blade costs a bomb due to the rarity. This blade looks new.........
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#5 |
EAAF Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 7,189
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I agree. Many of these "bird's eye damascus" blades are being sold in mass quantities from India (and Pakistan). Even the koftgari is new in style.
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#6 |
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Austria
Posts: 1,903
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Unfortunately, like you can learn from the previous comments, this is not a wootz blade, but a pattern welded one.
And it is a very poor quality one. This type of blades are in most cases so soft that they cannot hold an edge and are easily bent. I suggest you learn about the differences between WOOTZ (the oriental/antique/original "Damascus" steel) and PATTERN WELDED STEEL (what many call "Damascus" these days). A good point to start would be Leo Figiel's book "On Damascus Steel." |
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