Damascus steel

hand-wrought steel, made in various Asian countries, from parts of a bloom of heterogeneous composition, repeatedly folded over and welded and finally etched to reveal the resulting grain: used esp. for sword blades. Also called damask, damask steel.

[1720-30]

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▪ metallurgy

also called  damasked steel 

      one of the famous steels of the pre-industrial era, typically made into weapon blades. Manufacture involved a secret carburization process in which a form of wrought iron was heated to red heat in contact with various carbonaceous materials in closed vessels. The result was an iron-carbon alloy containing as much as 1.8 percent carbon. It is probable that the carburized product was then annealed to dissipate some of the carbon before being hammered into bars for later fashioning into articles such as swords.

      Damascus steel is characterized by exceptional hardness and by a watered, streaked appearance caused by the varying carbon levels of the original material. Sometimes a single bar is welded up from various kinds of steel. The bar is doubled over, welded, redoubled, and rewelded until the various layers of steel become intertwined, and it is then worked out to form the blade. The patterns that result after quenching and finishing are distinctive and complex. Damascus blades are judged largely by their watering, which serves as a guide to the quality of the steel.

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