View Single Post
Old 27th April 2009, 04:41 PM   #11
Jake
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 13
Default

Thank you,Fearn,and Mr.McDougall,for such clear and well-thought out information.This is exactly what makes this forum great.I've gotten so much from what you gentlemen have mentioned...But,hopefully,other will also find it somewhat usefull,the history,especially that of the spread of metalworking,being all so interconnected...A jig-saw puzzle,where each piece,unexpectedly,may lead to the placement of others!
For my part,i've nothing to contribute that can be in any way substantiated(In general,i'll try not to ever use a source that i cannot provide a reference for.Even if,due to my poor computer skills,at the time i do not).
As a contribution,for whatever good that it may do,i'll give a quick synopsis of an article that i was referred to.The author,L.B.Arhangelskiy,is an outstanding blacksmith:A maker of PW steel as well as the crucible kind("bulat"!),a real luminary,and a novator in his field.However,none of the information below is history-it is all myth,hearsay,and cannot,in any way,be applied to the science of inquiry,Strictly lore.
The author,LBA,was asked to forge a blade for an "art-knife" by one of the more noted members of the The Guild of Master Armourers,a Mr.Sushko,who lives and works in Kamchatka.The local color and lore have a large place in Mr.Sushko's work,and the project involved a knife along the lines of the mythical Paren knives,which led LBA to look into all the related stories,and that's how this short article came to be written.Here's a link to the original:http://www.arhangelskie.com/stat_9.html ,at the very bottom is a photo of the knife that the two cooperated on.
Here's the gist of the story:The myths abound of the superlative qualities of the "needle steel".The variations include anything from bunches of thin wire(in the 19th cent.Uzbekistan),to the similar construction in the Russian North West,Norse-related,to the mythical welding up of a load of Japanese steel needles by the Koryak,specifically in the village of Paren,Kamchatka peninsula.The myth variously involves composit of all sorts of "found"steel,ship plate scavanged from wrecks,and even a container weld,a pipe filled with assorted(by C content)chunks.
LBA poses a possibility that this sort of complex metalworking could have dispersed to the Koryaks from Yakutia(Saha Republic,now).
Saha people seem to have migrated north from Central Asia(?)centuries ago,bringing with them a culture of advanced metallurgy,among other aspects.Here's an exerpt from their epic "Olonho",as quoted by LBA(my inept translation),mentioning a legendary,17th cent.sword:
"A sword he then chose-both straight and long,
The best among all swords!
The blade of the sword was with magic imbued,
Of the 88 thunder clouds,rushing madly.
The beaks of the 99 iron-beaked ibises they have brocken short,
To forge into a single blade.
Blacksmiths,the weavers of spells,have welded the blade
Using the blood of a lion,
Tempered it in the gall of toothed fishes.
44 spells were contained therein,in that blade,
39 sorcerer's guiles..."

So,the story continues,that the Koryaks of Kamchatka have ended up with the forging technology,to be used afterwards in many ways.Apparently there are some records(that i have not seen,or have any access to),of the Paren smiths producing implements for the collective farms of the region.Among the tools are 100's of "deer spears",as Mr.McDougall indicates.
Once again,i regret not to be able to add in any material,substantiated way,and remain most grateful for the concise,careful information that you,gentlemen,unearth.
Warmest regards,Jake.
Jake is offline   Reply With Quote