Arizona weekly enterprise., 1882-09-09
Famnns Swords.
Wonderful Stories Related of the Damascus
 Blades-Japanese Swords


 Wonderful Stories Related of the Damascus
 Bades-Japanese Swords. The art shown in sword-making was not by any means confined to beautiful forms and elaborate ornamentation. - The greatest skill was exercised in the manufacture and temperament of the blade, which in the days when swords were not only worn but used, was more important than any other part of this weapon. In Europe, the sword manu- lecturers of Spain first began to have a reputation for producing work of supe- rior quality, and the armorers of Toledo stood foremost among their countrymen. A "Toledo blade was considered to be & weapon of great value, and even now, when we wish to speak of something re- markedly fine-tempered and sharp, we compare. it to one of these swords. The peculiarity of the Toledo blade was not only its extreme hardness, which ena- bled it to receive and retain the sharp est and most delicate edge, but its elas- ticity, which allowed it to be bent with out being broken. Some of the most famous of these swords could be bent so that the points touched the hihs, and yet they would spring back to perfectly straight line. It is said that in To- ledo sword-blades have been seen in the cutters shops coiled in boxes like watch- springs, and, although they might re- main in this position for some time, they would become perfectly straight when taken out. Other places in Europe were also famous for producing good swords. Many excellent weapons were made in Italy, and Andrea Ferrara, the Italian sword-maker, who has been mentioned before, was better known throughout Europe than any other of his craft. To possess genuine Ferrara blade was considered great thing by the noblcs of France and England.
 But it is to the east that the world owes the production of the most finely tempered swords it has ever seen; and the steel of Damascus has been cele- brated for many hundred years as su- perior to any metal that has ever been made into sword-blades. Even the cut lers of Toledo doubtless owed their skill and knowledge to the Moors, who brought from Damascus the art of J making blades that were as hard as dia- mouds, as sharp as raZors, and as elas- tic as whalebone.
 Wonderful stories are related of these Damascus swords. We have been told that with one of them a full-grown sheep could be cut in half at single blow, heavy iron chain could be sev- cred without turning the delicate edge of the sword, and gauge veil floating in the air could be cut through by one gentle sweep of the glittering blade ffrl otf, factured now, but their fame has ex- ceeded that of any other weapon of their kind, and it is quite certain that their extraordinary excellence has not been. exaggerated. It is probable that the workers in steel of the present day might be able to discover the peculiar methods by which the Damascus stee 1. xas made. but as there would be little uae or demand for the blades after they mad been produced it is not likely thai their manufacture will be attempted. - We should consider, however, that al though the present age preeminent as an inventive and manufacturing period there are some things which have beer produced by the ancients and the artifi cers of the middle ages which we of tn, present day have not been able to equal 1t is possible, therefore, that our steel workers might never be able to mak Damascus blades, even if they wanted to.
 Some of the swords of Japan are sai' to possess wonderful qualities of hard ness and sharpness. The story is tol, that if one of these celebrated blades held upright in q running stream tn leaves noatinO Opntlv down with th current will cut themselves in two whe they reach the keen edge of the sword
 But these Japanese swords. some C which were held in such high esteer that they were worshiped, and temple were built in their honor, were onl hard and sharp; they had no elasticity they could not bend, and they migl break, and in this respect they are ia inferior to the splendid cimeters of th Moors and Saracens. NicAoLGS.