Toledan legends
The fame of ancient Toledan steels was based on the mastership with which some smiths handled its temper, without any technical knowledge nor any instrument able to measure, even remotely, the adequate temperatures for such treatment. The temperature they knew it by the color of burning steel and the time of immersion in the water, by means of prayer, verses or songs allusive to the craft. People in general attributed such quality of steel to the water of the river Tagus, in which swords were tempered.
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