Kurdistan dagger

[ALEX]

Originally Posted by Gonzalo G

...Do you meant iron ores, since wootz a product made of iron, carbon and other igredients? I don´t have a map with the ancient iron ores sites distribution, but it would be interesting to have one and begin to make some inferences.
All my best

Gonzalo, let me venture a guess:

The common knowledge is that wootz ignots were exported from India to the Middle East. Damascus was a main arms production center in Syria, and Isfahan - in Persia. Isfahan in particular was well known to produce arms from locally mined iron ore, and wootz ignots from Khorossan area in Northwest Persia were mined and shipped to Isfahan and other production centers in Persia (the Khorossan is also a name of one of the wootz patterns – “Kara Khorossan” - a darker oilish pattern.)
I do not know if Persian wootz ignots were exported elsewhere, or if there were other ore sources in other regions, but perhaps it explains why Persian wootz is considered to be superior to Indian (and I know that some people will object to this theory, but be it a myth or legend – this notion has been around for a while, so it has to be a reason behing it

[Lew]

Alex

Wootz ingots were shippied as far as China and possibly Japan.

Lew

[Jeff Pringle]

I’d say definitely Japan, this article has photos of several types of imported steel (Nanbantetsu) from the late 1500 - early 1600s and kept in a shrine since, two of them look to be crucible product and have wootz-y chemistry, as far as reported in the article.
日本刀の鍛錬性に及ぼす南蛮鉄のリン含有量の影響
Effect of Phosphorus Content of Nanban-tetsu on Forgeability of Japanese Sword Making
鈴木 卓夫
Suzuki Takuo
Vol.90, No.1(20040100) pp. 43-47
The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan (ISIJ) ISSN:00211575
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110001457670/en/
(no, I don’t read Japanese, fortunately the photos, figures and tables are in English)
Hyotan and koban in particular look like semi-processed wootz ingots.

The best references I’ve found for mining, sword making and trade info are “Persian Steel, The Tannivoli Collection” with quite a lot of info on metal trade and manufacture in Persia, and “Medieval Islamic Swords and Swordmaking” the new translation of al Kindi’s 9th Century description of where and how various swords were made, he specifically mentions indigenous production of Khurasani swords; I think that is called Kurdistan now, NE Iraq.

[Gonzalo G]

Originally Posted by ALEX

I do not know if Persian wootz ignots were exported elsewhere, or if there were other ore sources in other regions, but perhaps it explains why Persian wootz is considered to be superior to Indian (and I know that some people will object to this theory, but be it a myth or legend – this notion has been around for a while, so it has to be a reason behing it

Please excuse me, Alex, and I expect not being making a big disgression, I did not understand the reason why persian wootz is considered superior to indian. It has been said that Damascus was importer, and latter producer of wootz. In relation with your beautiful khanjar, I was thinking if there are some reference to other centers of wootz production, though I see that you consider that the blade was a trade one from Persia, I´m sure for some good reason. I don´t have information about Kurdistan production of minerals and weapons, except for the khanjars I use to find on the web, and the wootz as a subject, is of great interest for me. If you can give me some orientation to this respect, I will appreciate it very much.
My best regards

Gonzalo

[Gonzalo G]

Jeff, sorry, I was writting my post and I didn´t see yours. You have some good responses to my questions, thank you.
Regards

Gonzalo

[Jeff Pringle]

No problem, Gonzalo
My suspicion is that Persian wootz has the better reputation because it has a large scale grain and high contrast, so people can see you've got wootz from across the room, the Indian variety is less flashy. These days, we might just call all the large-grained stuff Persian even though we don't really know where it came from...

[Royston]

It is possible to buy a large range of "chemicals" locally , but I cannot find anywhere to buy FerroChloride. I have tried various internet searches without success. I have 3 of these knives and am itching to try and clean them.
Does anyone in the UK know of a supplier please.

Thanks
Royston

[ward]

ferric Chloride is used to etch copper circuit boards. Try a good electronics supply house

[ariel]

How about a source for nitric acid?
I used FeCl3 and the yellow tint it leaves is very annoying.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by Royston

It is possible to buy a large range of "chemicals" locally , but I cannot find anywhere to buy FerroChloride. I have tried various internet searches without success. I have 3 of these knives and am itching to try and clean them.
Does anyone in the UK know of a supplier please.

Royston, try a search for Ferric Chloride, thats what its sold as.

Ariel, Jewelry makers supplires sell nitric acid. {in the UK anyway.}

Spiral

[Battara]

Same here in the US (that is where I get mine) but if your order it, hazardous shipping charges apply.

[kronckew]

maplin electronics sell it, you appear to have one in glastonbury. see www.maplin.co.uk, and attached extract from there.