Materials used in medieval pattern welded swords

Timo Nieminen · 28th May 2016, 11:29 PM

You might find what you want in http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Crucible.../dp/9004227830 (and you'll find some of Williams's stuff in his papers online).

The simple answer is iron and steel, with the steel ideally having about 0.7% carbon, though this wasn't always achieved. Some surviving swords show a lot of contrast due to differential corrosion; when new, they were (at least sometimes) polished and showed very little contrast (IIRC, one source describes a sword blade being breathed on so that the condensation would show the pattern).

For high contrast patterns, stain the blade (like keris blades). There's discussion of staining methods in al-Kindi's book, available in English translation: http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Islam.../dp/0906094526 (though not European).

28th May 2016, 11:29 PM	#5
Timo Nieminen Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 422	You might find what you want in http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Crucible.../dp/9004227830 (and you'll find some of Williams's stuff in his papers online). The simple answer is iron and steel, with the steel ideally having about 0.7% carbon, though this wasn't always achieved. Some surviving swords show a lot of contrast due to differential corrosion; when new, they were (at least sometimes) polished and showed very little contrast (IIRC, one source describes a sword blade being breathed on so that the condensation would show the pattern). For high contrast patterns, stain the blade (like keris blades). There's discussion of staining methods in al-Kindi's book, available in English translation: http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Islam.../dp/0906094526 (though not European).