Zig-Zag Ladder Pattern

Jeff Pringle · 16th June 2008, 07:41 AM

Marvelous, Alex – that’s what we need, those are certainly tighter ladders than you run across in run-of-the-mill, everyday wootz. Now if you had a higher-resolution version of the photo, we could really start comparing. Without that, I can give an opinion that the AA blade’s ladders seem less sharply defined when taken in total, and perhaps more importantly - notice they have a light/dark (or dark/light, depending on which direction you read your wootz), two stage influence on the light reflecting from the blade surface, the zig-zag blades have a three stage dark/light/dark reflection on many rungs, depending on the angle of incident light.
Imagine a semi-circular trough cut into the wootz, and a more squared-off trench, the first leans more towards a left side, right side reflection, the latter towards left side, bottom, right side.
But hopefully we can scare up more examples, to bounce opinions off of.

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?

To further answer Mark’s questions:
Yes, grinding & reforging creates that squeezing of the bands, and the bands can have an effect on reflected light like the grain of a figured wood like curly maple, the closer the blade is to final forged shape when the design is cut the more pronounced the effect.
Angle grinders and similar abrasive devices have a small contact patch with the item being ground into, so it is possible to cut curved lines – but later forging can also make a straight line curve as well.

Too many variables!

rand · 16th June 2008, 01:06 PM

Quote:

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

16th June 2008, 07:41 AM	#1
Jeff Pringle Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 189	Marvelous, Alex – that’s what we need, those are certainly tighter ladders than you run across in run-of-the-mill, everyday wootz. Now if you had a higher-resolution version of the photo, we could really start comparing. Without that, I can give an opinion that the AA blade’s ladders seem less sharply defined when taken in total, and perhaps more importantly - notice they have a light/dark (or dark/light, depending on which direction you read your wootz), two stage influence on the light reflecting from the blade surface, the zig-zag blades have a three stage dark/light/dark reflection on many rungs, depending on the angle of incident light. Imagine a semi-circular trough cut into the wootz, and a more squared-off trench, the first leans more towards a left side, right side reflection, the latter towards left side, bottom, right side. But hopefully we can scare up more examples, to bounce opinions off of. 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? To further answer Mark’s questions: Yes, grinding & reforging creates that squeezing of the bands, and the bands can have an effect on reflected light like the grain of a figured wood like curly maple, the closer the blade is to final forged shape when the design is cut the more pronounced the effect. Angle grinders and similar abrasive devices have a small contact patch with the item being ground into, so it is possible to cut curved lines – but later forging can also make a straight line curve as well. Too many variables!