The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1866-01-19
Damascus Blades,

While 30 much attention is directed to
the manufacture of new weapons of war, it
somewhat curious to rote the fact that
the method of making the best swords is a
lost art, and all the skill of modern times
is insufficient to recover it. While we
have been making great discoveries and
improvements in the manufacture of
steel, it is remarkable that neither Eng
land nor any other country can produce
an article equal to the Damascus blades
which are so celebrated in history, nor
has Damascus itself been able for several
centuries past to make even poor imita-
tation of the work for which it was once
so celebrated.
These blades are no myth, as some peo-
pie have imagined. They still exist nu-
merous and highly priced, in the ha1ds
Of the descendants of Saracen chieftains
and Eastern princes, and not unfrequently
shown in European collections. We have
specimen lying before us-a short blade,
rather a long knife than sword, of that
peculiar steel which modern art cannot
produce. The peculiarly Of the Damas-
Gus weapon is not only the beautiful sur.
face, showing myriads Of waving zig gag
lines, running through the metal, but the
elasticity and temper of the steel surpass
all other kinds, and show such union of
sharp edge with great elasticity as no
modern art can equal. The point of
sword could BE- bent to touch the hl,,
and spring back to its straight line, and
the same sword would cnt through an or
dina'y steel weapon without barming its
keen edge, or would pass with astounding
facility through silk shawl or handker-
chief thrown into the air, severing it with
swift sharp cut. Scntt's story of Sala-
din's sword in the Talismnn is not an in.
vention of the romancer.
Very many and expensive experiments
have been made to recover the art of ma
king these blades, but without success,
except in oue instance of the exper men ts
of General Annsof, Russian officer Of
great ability, who really seemed to succeed
10 reproducing the old Damascus steel. -
But even he was unable to do it with suf
hc'ent certainty ard regularity to leave
! A'o"oNeilCS III euGu u
shape Ns to be of practical value TO the
world tor Siuce bis death in 1851, the
Siberian works, winch he superintendent,
have failed wholly to produce the reouir-
cd article, and the manufacture of such
blades has entirely ceased.
Tue theories of different persons had
been that the peculiar lines and veins in
the Damascus weapons were produced by
some intermixture Of other metals with
the steel. General Anosotf, after exami.
nation, came to the conclusion that thew
were but the marks of crystalizaton, or
the lines OF carbon among the lines of
steel crystals. He invented a system of
carbonizatlun, which produced steel With
the lines visible, and then washing the
blade in acid he brought out more dis.
tinctly the marks of peculiar manufac-
ture. His works at Zlataoust became
celebrated as the Birmingham and Shelf.
field of the Oural country, and the steel
blades, arms, razors, and cutlery of vari.
nus kinds there made, were PROFESSIONALLY
the beat products of the modern world.
The General was accustomed to exhibit
to his visitors the exquisite perfection of
his work by performing the feat of cut.
ting through gauze veil thrown in the
air with one of his swords-a feat that no
British steel could be maio to perform
and he would also hew nails, bones, aud
| other hard substances, without nicking
or turning the rdge. The highest author
titles speaking of Anosotf's steel says that
the result of his discoveries was ito i'm.
press gu cast steel the elastic properties
of u softer material" Capt Abbott,
British officer highly competent to Judge
on this subject, said "the fault of Euro
pean blades is that, being forgsd of shear
eel for the sake of elasticity, they are
scarcely perceptble of the keen edge
which cast steel will assume. The geni-
US of Anosoff has triumphed over this OBJ
lection, not in hardening the soft steel,
but in giving elasticity to the bard
aud it may be doubted whether any
fabric in the world eau compete with tina,
of Ilataoust in the production of weapons
combining an equal degree of edge and
ell sticlty Capt. Abott also states that
he saw several Of the rejected blades sub
mitted to the breaking engine to be recast,
aud that they were "bent double, and
back again, Several times before they
could be divided"
The death of Anosoff seems to have
committed this art again to oblivion
His processes are well known, and his
bludes are priced in Russia and among
the Eastern Princes as fully equal, both
in beauty and in temper, to tue most
celebrated of the Damascus blades
But the art does not obey the will of the
SUCCESSORS of Anosoff, and for the present
we have nowhere in the world manu-.
faaturer uf Damascus blades