The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-07-14
Finely Tempered 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 manu-
facture and tempering of the blade,
which, in the days when swords were
not only worn but used, was more i'm
portant than any other part of this
weapon. In Europe, the sword manu-
facturers of Spain first began to have a
reputation for producing work OF super
Tor quality, and the armorers OF Toledo
stood foremost among their countrymen.
A Toledo blade" was considered to be
a weapon of great value, and, even now,
when we wish to speak Of something
remarkably fine-tempered and sharp,
we compare it TO one of these swords.
The popularity of the Toledo blade was
not only its extreme hardness, which en-
abled it to receive and retain the sharp
est and most delicate edge, but its elias
ITCHY, 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 hits, and
yet they would spring back to perfectly
straight line. 1t is said that, in Toledo,
sword-blades have been seen In cutters
shops coiled in boxes like watch-springs,
and, although they might remain in this
position for some time, they would be-
come perfectly straight when taken out.
Other places in Europe were also famous
for producing good swords. Many ex-
cellent weapons were made in Italy, and
Andrea Ferrara, the Italian sword-maker,
was better known throughout Europe
than any other of his craft. To possess a
genuine Ferrara blade was considered q
great thing by the mobiles of France and
England.
But it is to the East that the world
owes the production of the most fnele
tempered swords it has ever seen thy
steel of Damascus has been celebrated
for many hundred years as superior TO
any other metal that has ever been made
into sword blades. Even the cutters of
Toledo doubtless owed their skill and
knowledge 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
Damascus swords. We have been told
that with one of them full grown sheep
could be cut in half at single blow, q
heavy iron chain could be severed with
out turning the delicate edge of the
sword, and q gauze veil floating In the
air could be cut through by one gentle
sweep of the glittering blade. These
wonderful scimiters are not manufact-
ured now, but their fame has exceeded
that of any other weapon OF their kind,
and it is quite certain that their extraor-
binary excellence has not been exagger-
ated. 1t is probable that the workers in
steel of the present day might be able
to discover the peculiar methods by
which the Damascus steel was made, but
as there would be but little use or de-
mand for the blades after they had been
produced, it is not likely that their man
ufacture will be attempted. We should
consider, however, that although the
present age is pre- eminent as an invent
i've and manufacturing period, there are
some things which have been produced
by the ancients and the arti6cers of the
Middle Ages which we of the present
day have not been able to equal. 1t is
possible, therefore, that our steel work
ers might never be able to make
Damascus blade, even if they wanted to.
Some of the swords of Japan are said
to possess wonderful qualities of hard
ness and sharpness. The story is told
that if one of these celebrated blades is
held upright in a running stream the
leaves floating gently down with the cur
rent 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 inferior
to the splendid scimiters of the Moors
and Saracens.-Joha LeUees, in So.
Nicholas.