The Lost Art Of True Damascus Steel - Science | HowStuffWorks

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This layered forging process yields what is known as pattern-welded Damascus, and this is the type of Damascus still made today.

However, centuries ago, it was known as wootz steel and it was some of the finest steel in the world. It was first produced in India from iron ore with a high level of carbon — about 1 to 2 percent — and additional trace elements. The ingots — or cakes — of steel from India were sent to Damascus, Syria, where they were made into swords. These also had beautiful surface patterns and were lauded for their superior physical ability.

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In the early centuries of Damascus steel, its most common use was for weapons, which accounts for why it was so prized. Swords were difficult to make because of their long and slender shape. The best steel was required to make them stable and flexible.

Early Damascus steel solved a similar problem encountered in making long guns, too, considering their narrow, long shapes. By the 1600s, pattern-welded Damascus steel was used to make gun barrels. The practice spread through Europe and was popular in the British Isles during the 19th century. But in the early 1900s, production stopped when the Belgian city of Liege, which had produced 850 tons (771 metric tons) of Damascus barrels, fell to the invading German army in World War I.

Damascus steel
Today's Damascus steel is known as pattern-welded Damascus because it layers different ores with different properties together. Albin Bogren/Damasteel

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