Quote:
Originally Posted by mariusgmioc
Very interesting paper but only from the metallurgical point of view as it researches the properties of modern, recently made wootz that is massively different from antique wootz.
Moreover, even modern wootz displays a very wide spectrum of properties contingent on its primary composition and heat treatment. For example, I have a wootz Cossack knife made of drill bits that has a very high hardness that I estimate to be around 60 HRC. I also have another recently made wootz hunting knife with a significantly softer blade of around 52 HRC.
Yet, both these blades are vastly superior from the mechanical point of view to my antique wootz blades.
Regarding the antique wootz, there is also quite vast bibliography starting with the works of M. Faraday, going through the research of Verhoeven & Pendray and ending with the papers of Ann Feuerbach.
As a constant, antique wootz is of considerably lower quality than modern wootz in terms of edge retention (hardness) and toughness.
I have many Persian, Indian and Ottoman wootz blades and many needed repairs and maintenance so I can approximate their mechanical properties by the way they behave when subjected to bending and polishing.
|
When did the quality of European blades surpass that of wootz? I assume it was when the Industrial Revolution started, though I know Europeans exported blades to India in large quantities due to their skill in mass production techniques, however I don’t exactly know if these blades were deemed superior in quality to wootz