Damascus steel - Age guarantees Quality?

FenrisWolf · 26th January 2007, 12:18 PM

Lately I've been noticing a significant increase in the number of Damascus steel swords and daggers surfacing on ebay with extremely bold patterns, escpecially Indian weapons. Now the majority of these are new blades, often with fancy metalwork and koftgari inlay, but occasionally one show up advertised as as antique that is just too good to be true, bold Damascus pattern steel with crisp, unworn koftgari on every avaialble surface.

My question is, does anyone know anything about all this 'new' Damascus steel; is it being made in the same manner as the original wootz blades, or is it a shabby copy? I haven't been burned yet, but I've been eying a few of them. It wouldn't hurt to have an idea beforehand what one of the 'new' damacus blades is like, quality-wise.

Fenris

26th January 2007, 12:18 PM	#1
FenrisWolf Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 181	Damascus steel - Age guarantees Quality? Lately I've been noticing a significant increase in the number of Damascus steel swords and daggers surfacing on ebay with extremely bold patterns, escpecially Indian weapons. Now the majority of these are new blades, often with fancy metalwork and koftgari inlay, but occasionally one show up advertised as as antique that is just too good to be true, bold Damascus pattern steel with crisp, unworn koftgari on every avaialble surface. My question is, does anyone know anything about all this 'new' Damascus steel; is it being made in the same manner as the original wootz blades, or is it a shabby copy? I haven't been burned yet, but I've been eying a few of them. It wouldn't hurt to have an idea beforehand what one of the 'new' damacus blades is like, quality-wise. Fenris