I think what we have here is a cultural issue. I grew up in a commpunity (Asia/Eastern Europe) where "bulat" novadays simply means steel. Any steel. Even if you buy almost any translational of any old text, you will see that translator uses word "bulat" with no regard for the original text, i.e. assumes that it simply means steel. This is why you occasionally see russian works on bulat that pronounce that you know what (since we don't know how to call it ?), was used by Roland, prince Igor and virtually every other historic person, because the author did not check the manuscript's original for the exact _original_ wording.
Even in XIXth century, per Anosov, bulat meant any steel with a pattern, whether it is mechanical, you know what, or something even more simple.
The "wootz" word for me is a slang and I think we need such a word to clearly identify what we are talking about.
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