Hi Gene,
This is really a great question, and I couldnt resist trying to tackle it in some degree, even though I warn you metallurgy is by far one of the many things I know little about, but have always wanted to learn.
Both Jose and Lew have valid points, and from what I can understand, there was probably not a defined end to the 'wootz' process in India, or overall for that matter. Actually crucible steel (aka wootz, Damascus etc.) was made in numerous other locations in Central Asia as well as India. Though the premier wootz came from locations in Hyderabad in the Deccan, I understand that other regions produced also, but not with the quality of the Hyderabad product.
It seems that the ore found in the regions where this wootz was produced carried a number of key impurities in it which included vanadium , which aided in the important carburizing process that gives wootz its distinct patterning properties. This is according to Verhoefen in his work on this subject ("Key Role of Impurities in Ancient Damascus Steel") .
Along with the presence of these impurities in the ore, another of the key features in processing had to do with forging techniques and temperatures.
The wootz actually requires much lower temperatures, and oddly the more primitive processing seems to have been one of the inadvertant secrets, along with the impurities.
In analogy, I think of the great Sean Connery movie "Medicine Man", where a scientist in the Amazon jungle searches for a cancer cure. After years of trying to find effective medicines, he desperately tries to reproduce a compound used by the natives which miraculously works, but with no success. Eventually he discovers the missing ingredient is apparantly sugar, dragged into the mix by busy ants.
It is these primitive forging methods and these mysterious trace elements that made this type of wootz so remarkable.
With changes in the depleting ore supplies in the Hyderabad regions, and the native workers not really knowing of these geological anomalies, only that the ore had lost its necessary processing advantages, it seems that the industry was noticeably impaired. It seems also I had read somewhere that by the 19th century, the British tried to reduce deforestation from this intense wootz production, but cannot locate those notes.
In these times it is noted that the wootz blades were typically quite brittle, though methods of employing hardened edges etc were used in degree. The advent of European contact and thier tough steel blades became most desirable, as did the British colonization with thier industrialized steel affecting changes in production.
It seems that the easier to obtain imported blades, the colonial advent of commercialism and industry with its volume and the depletion of key ore deposits along with cessation of traditional processing effectvely ended the magic of these wootz blades.
As well noted by Lew, there were many of these processed ingots around, in fact I believe some still are, but with the passing of the old timers who no longer trained to continue the trade, much was lost. It would be difficult to assign a definite time or specific reasons for the disappearance of the making of the blades.
While reproducing these blade patterns has been achieved in degree scientifically in many instances, none have ever reached the excellence of these early blades. I believe a number of blades were scientifically analyzed in 1924, about 8 from the 2000+ in the Moser collection.
I look forward to comments/corrections, as I have just begun trying to learn on this fascinating topic, and hope others will join in with observations.
All best regards,
Jim
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