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Old 18th March 2018, 01:05 PM   #17
ariel
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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Beautiful examples!

I join Steve and Tatiana: it is repair, and likely modern welding.
That was a problem with wootz blades: they were gorgeous but brittle. I don’t remember the source, but there is an old casually-reported story of a young Caucasian prince whose Persian wootz blade fell on the floor and broke in half. Al-Biruni mentioned a tendency of wootz blades to crack and break in very cold weather. I have seen several re-welded wootz swords.

I imagine what could have happened in the heat of a battle, if a warrior attempted to parry a blow with his sword or tried to hit a heavily armored opponent.

No wonder why the locals of every location, from India to Aravia, readily exchanged their wootz blades for European ones.

They were mostly suitable for daggers, but the long-bladed weapons were only questionably reliable.
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