Ingots

Oriental-Arms · 1st March 2010, 04:42 PM

This is not an attempt to prove that these are wootz ingot or mill balls. It was discussed many times in several forums so I will leave it to the expert to decide. But since I was offering for sale few of these wootz/mill balls I feel I should share with you some facts and findings
I sacrificed one of this balls and submitted it to the good hands of Giora Biran, a blacksmith and a friend and this is what we have done:
The ball was cut into two halves with a disk and one of the faces flattened.

(Please note the crack in the center, also known as “pipe”. I will refer to it later.)

One half was heated to about 800 degrees and hammered down (in several heating cycles) to a flat bar shape:

One face was polished and etched to reveal a very clear pattern:

A small part of the bar was further forged to a small kitchen style blade (more and bigger blades are being worked out now), polished and etched:

1st March 2010, 04:42 PM	#14
Oriental-Arms Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Haifa, Israel Posts: 183	Wootz or Mill balls, open questions. This is not an attempt to prove that these are wootz ingot or mill balls. It was discussed many times in several forums so I will leave it to the expert to decide. But since I was offering for sale few of these wootz/mill balls I feel I should share with you some facts and findings I sacrificed one of this balls and submitted it to the good hands of Giora Biran, a blacksmith and a friend and this is what we have done: The ball was cut into two halves with a disk and one of the faces flattened. (Please note the crack in the center, also known as “pipe”. I will refer to it later.) One half was heated to about 800 degrees and hammered down (in several heating cycles) to a flat bar shape: One face was polished and etched to reveal a very clear pattern: A small part of the bar was further forged to a small kitchen style blade (more and bigger blades are being worked out now), polished and etched: