Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-28
Finely Tempered Sword.

The art shown in swerd-making was not
oy any means confined to beautiful forms and
elaborate characterization. The greatest skill
was exercised in the manufacture and temper
Ing Of the blade, which, in the days when swords
were not only worn but used was more import
ant than any other part Of this weapon. In Eu-
rope, the sword manufacturers of Spain first
began to have reputation for producing work
OF superior 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 remarkably fine-ten-
pered and sharp, we compare it to one Of these
swords. The popularity ofthe Toledo blade was
not only its extreme hardness, which enabled it to
receive and retain the sharpest and most delicate
edge, but its elasticity, which allowed 1t to be
bent without being broken. Some of the most
famous of these swords could be bent SO that the
points touched the hits, and yet they would
spring back to perfectly straight line. It is
said that, In Toledo, sword-blades have been
seen in the cutters shops coiled in boxes like
Watch-springs, and although they might remain
come 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,
other OF his craft. To possess genuine Fer
rara blade was considered a great thing by the
mobiles of France and England
But it is to the east shat the world owes the
production of the most finely tempered swords
it has ever seen, and the steel of Damascus has
been celebrated fer many hundred years as su-
perior to any other metal that has ever been
made into sword-blades. Even the cutters Of
Toledo doubtless owed their skill and knowl-
edge to the Moors. who brought from Damascus
the art OF making blades that were as hard as
diamonds, as sharp as razOrs, and as elastic as
whalebone.
Wonderful stories are related of these Damas-
Gus swords. We have been told that with one
OF them fnll-grown sheep could be cut in half
at single blow. heavy iron chain could be
severed without turning the delicate edge of
the sword. and a gauze veil floating in the air
could be cut through by one gentle sweep of the
glittering blade. These wonderful scimitars are
not manufactured now, but their fame has ex-
ceeded that of any other weapon of their kind
and 1t is quite certain that their extraordinary
excellence has not been exaggerated. It is prob
able that the workers in steel of the present day
might be able to discover the peculiar methods
oy which the Damascus steel was made but as
there would be little use or demand for the
blades after they had been produced, it is not
likely that their manufacture will be attempted
We should consider, however, that although the
present age is pre- eminent as an inventive and
manufacturing period, there are some things
which have been produced by the ancients and
the artifcers of the Middle Ages which we of the
present day have not been able to equal 1t is
possible. therefore, that our steel-wOrkers might
never be able to make Damascus blade. even
if they wanted to.
Some of the swords Of japan are said to DOS
sess wonderful qualities of hardness and sharp
ness The story is told that if one Of these cele-
brated blades is held upright in running
stream the leaves floating gently down with the
current will cut themselves in two when they
reach the keen edge of the sword
But these japanese swords some of which
were held in such high esteem that they were
,worshiped, and temples were built in their
honor, were only hard and sharp; they had no
elasticity. they could not bend and they might
break, and in this respect they were far in
ferior to the splendid scimitars of the Moors
and Saracens.-Frona '.S,cords," by John
Leacees. in st. Nicholas for Jtlv