WOOTZ'nROZES

[ALEX]

Recently I had an argument about the Rose pattern with one of my friends, who claimed that what you see on the pictures below is not a rose pattern per se, but just random circular distortions; rose pattern is a deliberate/manual process of making a circle, not self-occurring. But it looks pretty Ros'ish to me. Any comments?

[ariel]

Beautiful blade!
But... I am with your friend: I can't see any artificially-applied pattern, ladder or roses.

[CharlesS]

I'm with Ariel....Forget the flowers, just revel in the beauty of that blade!

[ALEX]

Thanks Ariel.
Somehow I thought the concept of "rudimentary"/(not deliberately made) ladder formations would apply to rose formations as well. I know it is just a concept, but wanted to hear what others think.
Also, below is another very fine wootz blade, recently restored. It is much wider and heavier one, with amazing wootz clarity and contrast. Hope I am not offending anyone by posting too many wootz pictures:-)

[RSWORD]

One can never post too many wootz pictures and shame on anyone who thinks such a thing!

Circular distortions, such as you picture, are not an uncommon feature in wootz blades but seem to show up in better quality examples. I define better quality as higher levels of activity(circular distortions, meandering lines, etc.), higher contrast and generally tend to be of a more sophisticated level of grind and polish. As you state, the ladder and rose pattern is created through a manual manipulation of the wootz bar and therefore tends to have regularity to its spacing, position between ladder rungs, etc.

Beautiful example. Thanks for sharing!

[Tatyana Dianova]

Alex, what a beautiful blades Can you please post also the whole blades and swords?

[ALEX]

Tatyana,
I am restoring the first sword now, and will post pictures when it is ready.
Here is the picture of the second one:

[Tatyana Dianova]

Absolutely beautiful!!! Have you restored it also yourself? Have you used the special dust?

[ALEX]

I "directed" the restoration:-) and used the "dust". I still don't know what it consists of, but it works. The only minus is that it leaves some white random blury spots on the blade in places where wootz is not 100% perfectly developed, whereas other etchants would maintain darker coloration, thus making the "blanks" less evident. I'll post some closeups when time permits.

[Jim McDougall]

Alex,
Just wanted to say I love the thread title.."wootz n' roses"....now thats heavy metal!!!!!

All the best,
Jim

[Battara]

Originally Posted by ALEX

I "directed" the restoration:-) and used the "dust"

Dust? What, where, how can I get this "dust"?

[ariel]

Originally Posted by Battara

Dust? What, where, how can I get this "dust"?

Indeed!
Alex, can you inquire what the heck is this magic substance? Where did you get it? Can you get more? I am sure many of us and many more around the world would love to get it for their collections. If no info is available, can you take it to some chemistry lab and determine the composition? Old son, this is a beginning of a beautiful business!

[ALEX]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Alex,
Just wanted to say I love the thread title.."wootz n' roses"....now thats heavy metal!!!!!

All the best,
Jim

Thanks Jim:-)
Here is the complete song :-)

[ALEX]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

One can never post too many wootz pictures...

Got it Rick:-) Here is another one of a freshly polished/etched blade which looks like wootz:-)

Ariel,
I have only so little of this "dust" and am trying to get more. Actually it is more like a mud. It does not dull the polished surface like an acid would, and this is it's main advantage. But it will not enhance or better develop low quality wootz. If/when I get more of it, I'll let you know, and I'll also try to get it to the lab to find out what it is.