The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1882-08-26
FINELY TEMPERED SWORDS,

The art shown in sword making Was
not by any means confined to beautiful
Gnrms or elaborate Recommendations The
greatest skill was exercised in the manu-
facturr and trmpciiag Of he b,adc, V hich
IN the dat : ~jrn swords We're not only
worn bnt used VS. In"Ie i'm portAat than
any other part y! ills "eapun. lin Eu
rope the sword manufacturers Of Spain
first BEGAN 10 have reputation ioi pro
duciug work of superior quality. and the
armorers Of Toledo stood foremost among
their couutrymeu. \ "Fuludu blade
was considered 10 be Il weapon now
when we wish to spcal, of something re-
maikably fnc-trmpcrCd and SHARP, we
compare it to one OF these swords. The
popularity of the Toledo blaG" was not
only its extreme hardness, which cna-
blcd it to receive and retain the sharpest
and most delicate edge. hut its elasticity
which allowed it to be bent without being
these swords could be bent 50 that the
points touched hits. and yet they would
spring back to a perfectly straight line.
It is SAD thai. i'll Toledo. sword blades
have been seen in the cutters shops coil
ed il boxes; Ike watch-springS. and al
though they might remain iii this pos
ton for some time t,.ey would become
perfectly straight when taken oEt. Other
places in fluropc were also famous for
producing good swords. Many excellent
weapons were made in Italy, and Andrea
FcTrara, he Italian sword maker, wa bet
ter known throughout Europe than any
other Of his craft. To possess a genuine
Fcrraga blade was considered Il great
thing by the mobiles Of France and Eng
land.
But it is the East that the world owes
tine production Of the ll0at finely tenn
perci swords it has ever seen; ard the
steel OF Damascus has been celebrated
for manE l.undT"d years as superior to
any other metal that has ever been made
into sword blades. Even the cutters of
Toledo doubtless owed their skill to the
Moors, who Brought from Damascus the
AIT Of making blades that were as hard
as diamonds, as Sharp as razovs, aid as
elastic as VI halcbone.
Wonderful stories are related II these
Damascus swords. We have been told
that with one OF them \ tEjl, grown sheep
heavy iron chain could be severed with
out turning the delicate edge Of th'
sword and il gauze vvil floating in the
air could be "rt thrcugh with one single
sweep Of the Glitteling blade. These
wonderful Scimi,arS are not mauuiACtur-
ed now, but their fame has exceeded that
Of any other \ capon Of their kinu, and
it is quite certain that their cXtraordi-
nary excellence has not been exaggerated.
1t is probable that the workers III stcc'.
Of the present day might &c able 10 dis,
cove" the peculiar mcthod, by which he
Damascus steel was matte. but as there
would be little use or demand fer the
biitItS 'illtl tHct !l.i't lI'ctCt'i, 1t - mo-
likely that their manufacture will hc at
tempted We should consider. however,
that although the pre-eminent as an in
ventivc and manufacturing period, there
are some things which have been pro-
duced by the ancients and the artiticers
OF the middle ages which we of the pcs
eIt day have not been able to equal. Il
is possible, therefore, that our steel
workers might never be able to make
Damascus blade, even i! 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 il one of these celebrated blades is
held upright in a running stream the
lcav2s floating gently down with the
current will cut themselves IN t~o 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 wcrshipped, and temples
were ni.,It N their honor, were only hard
and sharp. they had 20 elasticity, they
could not bend and they might break
and in this respect they We're far inferior
to the splendid scimitars OF the Moors
Sara"cns-St Nicholas.