A Pattern Welded Katar

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Rick

No Gene .

IIRC it was a sword; wootz on one side, plain steel (again IIRC) on the other .. wootz can be scarf-welded of course .

Possibly it was in Artzi's possesion ???

Could well be mate.
I am in my 40s now, the old brain plays tricks with my memory.......

[Lew]

Originally Posted by Atlantia

Could well be mate.
I am in my 40s now, the old brain plays tricks with my memory.......

It's all down hill now my friend l myself have way too many pictures of old swords in my head and have trouble accessing them all at times.

[Norman McCormick]

Hi Gentlemen,
I believe the sword you are referring to is owned by Jens, see attached photo.
Regards to all those in their 'dotage'.
Norman.


P.S. It was mentioned in a thread that I started so perhaps I have an unfair edge!!!!!!!

[Rick]

I don't know if that's the one I remember, Norman .

IIRC it was a Shamshir of sorts Indian or Persian (of course) .

Then again, I turned 65 last week ............

[A.alnakkas]

You guys make me feel like a toddler :-)

Very interesting item Lew, congratulations. I saw/owned tulwars with scarf weld, is it done on purpose during the creation or just repair for broken swords?

[ALEX]

Originally Posted by A.alnakkas

... is it done on purpose during the creation or just repair for broken swords?

Scarf welding is one of Indian blade making techniques, was done intentionally for purposes of enhancing blade's capacity/resistance against impact. It normally joins plain steel and woots near blade's base. Neither this partucular katar nor Jens' sword are examples of scarf weldeding in it's classical form.

[Jens Nordlunde]

All right Alex,
Here it is before you start asking me for it .
Jens

P.S. sorry for the poor quality of the picture, but I am sore one can see what you mean.

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Lew

It's all down hill now my friend l myself have way too many pictures of old swords in my head and have trouble accessing them all at times.

LOL, I think that when we had the baby, I had to share some 'brainpower' with him. Not been the same since he arrived!

[Rick]

Just wait ................... it gets worse .

[Gt Obach]

@ Lew

occasionally a crucible steel charge can be an incomplete melt... some of the low carbon wrought iron has not gone into solution in time... it is difficult to tell as when you look at the crucible, most of the melt is liquid -- with a piece of wrought iron floating within.... now the crucible is yanked out..... cooled.. and then ingot is cracked out of the crucible and forged out into a blade
-- now to the smith's surprise, when the blade is etched....a non-patterning area is revealed in the wootz... this can be some of the initial ingredients not fully melted
- it does become a steel however.... as carbon will migrate as the blade is forged

also... to broken tips... alot of blades can have the tips broken during combat use..

not suggesting this is what happened with this blade... but its likely a crucible melt error

also... forgewelded wootz can be done without loss of pattern... I have seen it

[Blacksmith]

I agreed with Lew. On some thread a while ago I mentioned a tulwar which I saw in India, the blade was wootz on other side and pattern welded damascus on other.It was for sale but the price was quite something so I had to pass it.
Still regretting...
-Timo-

[Blacksmith]

Sorry, agreed with Obach.

[Richard Furrer]

Originally Posted by Blacksmith

I agreed with Lew. On some thread a while ago I mentioned a tulwar which I saw in India, the blade was wootz on other side and pattern welded damascus on other.It was for sale but the price was quite something so I had to pass it.
Still regretting...
-Timo-

That blade is called a "Kamara"..I saw one in North India belonging to a landed family. It hardness tested different from one side to the other...first indication that it was one of those as the carbon levels were different from one material to the next and a "as quench hardness" is related to carbon levels only. I had heard of them, but that was proof.

I have yet to make one, but it is on the list.

And just to reinforce the point, it is possible to forge-weld crucible steels to non-crucible steels and still maintain the pattern. Anyone interested can email me and I'll provide some images.

I have seen a few katar which are not wootz. the habit of late in India seems to be polishing the items..which makes it difficult to tell what the steel is.

Ric