A hunting sword with Damascus blade of Yataghan type

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

Hello Tatyana,

Very interesting sword (Karabella Yatagan), but for accuracy one needs to mention it is PATTERN WELDED Damascus and not true/oriental Damascus steel (aka WOOTZ).

Hello Marius,

absolutely no one can say for sure what the famous oriental Damascus was .
The ancient descriptions we have are not exactly enough.
What we can say for sure is that Wootz was 5-6 times more expensive than pattern welded steel of best sword-quality (early 19th ct.).
Average Wootz-blades are highly overrated, either soft and easy bend or hard and brittle. Top Wootz-blades with differential hardening are extremely rare.


Regards,
Roland