Making Damascus steel is a very time-consuming and lengthy process, which requires extensive experience and knowledge of blacksmithing. The technology of creation ensures high quality of the product due to the optimal alternation of layers differing in parameters. Low carbon steels are used as a softening substrate between layers containing a high percentage of carbon . Because of this combination, Damascus steel becomes particularly sharp and hard.
History of occurrence
Blades made from Damascus steel are never made in large quantities. They always exist in a single copy and are distinguished by a unique structure, which has no comparison.
Damascus steel today is, first of all, the extraordinary quality and ingenuity of the master. The name of this alloy comes from the city of Damascus, located in Syria, which was the largest center for a wide variety of crafts in the Middle East. However, there is also an opinion about the invention of this alloy in India. For the first time Europeans saw products from this steel in Damascus, since then the alloy has received the name "Damascus steel", under which it is currently used. The technological process was very complex, and the secret of its manufacture was carefully guarded. This explains the very high cost of weapons made from Damascus alloy. By the nature of the product, you can determine the master who made it. Each blacksmith has his own characteristic style and “handwriting” with the secrets of
heat treatment.
Process of creation
Damascus steel, the manufacture of which consists in the correct choice of steel grades, knowledge of their chemical composition, high-quality processing, is characterized by an unusual pattern of the blade.
Damaged steels include refined steels and welding damascus. The secret is to carefully combine plates from blanks with different carbon contents. The blanks are interconnected by welding and forging. The process can be repeated several times. The result is an alloy with a combination of the advantages of iron and high carbon
steel. The stainless steel from which the plates are made is heated in the forge, after which the workpieces are intensively forged in the forge.
Thus, a higher alloy strength is achieved. Next, the workpiece is unzipped into a plate, cut and again placed in the forge. The process can be repeated several tens of times. Some blade blanks can have up to 500 layers of steel. To obtain a characteristic pattern on the blade, the workpiece is subjected to etching.
Mosaic damask
Recently, mosaic damask has been particularly popular. Damascus steel made in this way differs from blacksmith in that the design of the pattern is carried out in advance by placing the profile and contrasting metals inside the workpiece. After the parts are joined by forging, a complex package is created inside the workpiece. The industrial production of Damascus steel uses the same principles as copyright Damascus.