Kronckew and Estcrh , you guys are spot on in your assessments and views on the situation, which is essentially what I was finding but honestly could not put into proper words. Metallurgy and these more scientific aspects are admittedly my nemesis in these studies
I am along with Mahratt in wondering how this 'art' in fabricating this fantastic steel in India could just vanish, and that its secrets were so intricate they could not be duplicated.
The advance of industrial revolution seems to have furnished more cost efficient methods of producing steel in England, so the call for these materials certainly would play a larger role in volume. However, as Estrch has well pointed out, if wootz blades were still being produced in his lifetime, why would a scientist be trying to discover this secret?
I think this scenario itself is one of the greatest mysteries of wootz, compounded by the fact that Russian presence in Central Asia certainly must have had access to centers which produced blades. Did they not have political access to Iran ? I need my "Great Game" by Peter Hopkirk!!!!