Where's the Wootz?

[Bryce]

I am not sure I fully understand what you are asking. There are plenty of wootz blades that were made in places like Iran. For example the famous "Assad Allah of Isfahan" blades. Are you asking were they made in Iran, from wootz steel that was produced in Iran or were they made in Iran from wootz steel that was produced in India?

I am not a wootz scholar, but my assumption was that the wootz steel was also produced in the middle-east, not just India.

Cheers,
Bryce

[urbanspaceman]

Pertinently, I am not talking about blades made from Wootz produced in India and Sri Lanka then exported along the Silk Roads; I refer, specifically, to crucible steel made in the Middle East.

[urbanspaceman]

It is a bit ambiguous, I agree.

[Jim McDougall]

I think the issue at hand is, as crucible steel is in essence produced in the same manner as the mysterious 'wootz' of Middle East, India but in the west. So the question, in my 'lay' perception is.....how are the smelted products of these versions of steel different?
If I understand correctly, the smelted steel becomes ingots, and these ingots of iron fashioned into carburized steel are then used to forge blades.

Then it becomes the manner in which the raw steel is forged, with proper tempering, temperatures, quenching etc.

As can be seen, my understanding of these important factors in the making of blades is hopelessly basic as my knowledge of edged weapons is more historic and of swords in finished product. The steel, its differences and characteristics is most important, and I admit its complexity has intimidated me to the point of avoidance.

If I have understood, the 'wootz' steel was produced in the Middle East, but the furnaces in India and Sri Lanka produced the ingots which were traded to many blade making centers in other regions and cultures.

In the same manner, steel produced in Sweden was a much traded and desired form which provided ingots to makers throughout Europe, England.
I am not sure if the Swedish steel was crucible or not......ingots seem like they were more blockish, like bars of precious metal.

How is crucible steel different from that produced in blast furnaces ?
Again focused on western methods.

[urbanspaceman]

It is believed that Wootz was produced as far back as 800bCe in Southern India and Sri Lanka.
It is a hypereutectoid 'Crucible' steel: i.e. its temperature rises to the point where it melts and the organic additives included in the crucible, which was a "clay" watermelon shaped vessel, become evenly distributed, as opposed to folding and hammering.
Those additives were rice husks, pomegranate peel, wood chips and leaves (?); also, it has been suggested that glass was added to homogenize impurities into a slag layer on top - but I remain uncertain as to the veracity of this suggestion.
The forges were on hillsides, and tent-like funnels directed wind into the furnace to achieve the necessary temperatures.
The resulting cakes of wootz could then be forged into blades given the appropriate knowledge and ability - which was not always a given.
So, was this method practiced in the Middle East?
That is my question.
Surely this is known and established.

[urbanspaceman]

The 'Crucible' method was lost until 1744 when Doncaster born clock and locksmith Benjamin Huntsman - in search of a perfect mainspring - moved to Sheffield and finally perfected the process.
Unfortunately, paranoid and guarded until the end, he never patented the method.
This method is the basis for modern steel making using the Bessemer converter.
There my knowledge ends.

[urbanspaceman]

Beware of typing Wootz into Youtube unless you are retired.