[kai]

Dear all,

None of the pieces shown in this thread so far is in well enough polish (and etch/stain) to really prove them actually being monosteel if defined as modern homogeneous steel from highly standardized industrial production processes, usually of western origin.

Steel of decent quality and carbon content could just as well have been obtained by selecting suitable raw material(s), folding it multiple times onto itself (i.e. "washing" out impurities and homogenizing the internal structure of the steel during this standard blacksmithing process) if you accept the associated loss of the expensive material (and coal/coke) as well as possible changes to its carbon content during this lengthy process. If you do a high polish and possibly fine etching, you can usually still see the laminated structure of such a steel (as in most Japanese sword steel); if you keep folding, the structure tends to disappear and you may only be able to detect hints from the placement of any remaining isolated imperfections. This is the traditional approach to obtain "monosteel" which was usually too precious to utilize for fully forging any blade from it. While one may find such examples crafted for affluent customers, for the majority of blades only a minimum amount of such steel got utilized though (for the middle layer of a sandwich construction or only for edges of the blade ).

Even before the availability of mass-produced western steel, steel got imported into SE Asia from China, India, and even Europe.

Regards,
Kai