Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ibeam
I tried to take a close up of the blade and here it is.
|
Thanks for the pic, Ibeam! Ok, I see the pattern which you are referring to as wootz. However, could you please try to get an even clearer pic? Waiting for a completely overcast day does help... Since this may be such an unique piece, I'd love to get the documentation as good as possible!
Quote:
|
The clean smooth steel in the bottom of the picture is the blade edge. Most of the patterning happens just above this hardened edge.
|
That's like fire-hardening a bronze sword's edge...
Actually, this lack of pattern may be a more compelling evidence that this really is wootz: Seems like the bladesmith was unaware of the requirements for forging wootz and thus destroyed the hard wootz edge during a futile conventional "hardening" step!
Maybe this blade was made from an imported wootz blank/blade? Is it possible to deduce from the pattern wether it was just filed into shape or is there any forging noticeable?
Sorry for being a pain!
Regards,
Kai