Island made sword

[Ferguson]

Originally Posted by RSWORD

It would appear that this blade is laminated. I have seen similar "patterns" on barong blades from the Philippines. The real open pattern, I believe, is from minimal folding of the blade.

Rick, you're the man when it comes to wootz and pattern welded steel. Let me throw out another possibility. My first time etching a blade looked like that. I didn't degrease it properly and the vinegar beaded up. Could that be what we're seeing? I found that cleaning the blade with acetone or alcohol prior to etching, and adding a drop of dishwashing liquid to the vinegar caused the vinegar to wet the blade better.

I could be way off though, and that could be the actual pattern in the steel.

Steve