Talk:Wootz steel

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Could an expert in metalworking verify this:

"...that they could cut through a man with a single stroke, and be bent around a man and return to their original shape when released."

The sources I've found in my limited searching have been adamant in glorifying the supposed advantages of wootz over other weapon metals (and always tint their work with strong nationalistic/religionist overtones). Do these traits (which the author of this article writes have been "said" to exist, implying that they are not necessarily fact) accurately describe wootz steel in any way?

The design of the blade has much to do with its performance. Cut through bone and sinew is easy to do with a thin blade that will not twist away from the direction of the cut. The pelvis is the hardest bone to cut through. An edge thats up to 10 times thiner than a piece of paper can't chip, crack or bend like foil and still function as a weapon for a life time or generations. It must cut through steel armor, bounce off shields, be struck edge to edge, eventually pierce chain mail or slash through dry hard leather. Not just once but all day. There were different grades of damascus steel. The kind that Alfred Pendray made before he introduced it to Dr. Verhoven is a different grade than reported in the journals and in the Scientific American. There is much more but that is the subject of books. Can the cut be made? Yes, on foot and horseback. Will it bend about the body like a belt? If its designed to be flat and thin then it will bend like a bow. Wear resistance, hardness, duribility. If you can throw a baseball at 90 mph replace it with a 10 inch jambia. You can cut just as fast. Even at half that speed the shock will find the flaw in the blade, handle, or user. The Persian wootz steel sword that I own is slender single edged and tapered. There is no rust after 400 years except on the steel fittings. The blade is unmarked and as true as when it was made. Time is a stone that destroys all but the best. I have a library of asian swords for 44 years made edged designs for 20 or so. I will check back to see if I answered your questions. Dave F.

The article says "Wootz steel was widely exported throughout the region, and became particularly famous in the Middle East, where it became known as Damascus steel.", but I was under the impression that the two were different (Damascus steel is most commonly thought as an improvement on Wootz), but I could mistaken. Can someone else comment? --ink_13 21:38, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Take a look at the Damascus steel article. Damascus is Wootz steel. I have encountered no source that says otherwise. 58.7.180.87 11:17, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

If it's really the same thing, shouldn't this article be merged into the Damascus steel article, or vice versa, with an appropriate redirect? We shouldn't maintain two separate articles about the same thing. --Sapphire Wyvern 03:04, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Why is there a See Also link to w00t? --CCFreak2K 03:21, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, the article was linked to from Slashdot... everyone obviously made the conclusion that Wootz steel is used to pwn people, leading to the w00t, so we've finally discovered the proper etymology. Too bad this is Original Guessing and thus against the Wikipedia policy. =) --wwwwolf (barks/growls) 09:27, 17 November 2006 (UTC)