Zig-Zag Ladder Pattern

[rand]

Originally Posted by Jeff Pringle

Rand, I don’t suppose you kept a copy of one or two of those photos you sent to Figiel a decade ago, that could be digitized and posted?

Hi Jeff,

Will look to see if I still have a copy of the photo, have never thrown away any letter/photo communication from a collector. Last time I moved I found some letters from Leo and read them again, he was acutely interested in damascus steel and very well read on the subject and was always fun to chat with him on the phone.

The zig zag patterned sword definately had an iron core with wootz steel wrapped around, there were spoltches of the iron core showing where the wootz was worn away. The zig zags were very precise and evenly spaced as you see on better ladder patterns, it was a single line zig zag of exactly forty rungs on each side and the shamhsir had a very shallow curve.

rand