158 The Stvord-Blades of Damascus. [March, 



The interest which was attached to these famous weapons was increased 

 hy a peculiar appearance which characterized the steel of which the 

 blades were composed. The surface of the steel was marked by waving 

 lines, extending parallel to each other in curious spiral convolutions, 

 from the hilt to the point of the sword. These mysterious lines were 

 objects of great curiosity and wonder to all who examined them, and 

 many fruitless attempts were made to discover by what means they were 

 produced. Grinding the blade would remove them for the time being ; 

 but on applying an acid to the fresh surface thus produced, the variega- 

 tion would immediately re-appear — showing that the effect wa,s not 

 superficial, but that it depended upon some cause pervading the sub- 

 stance of the steel. 



A great many attempts were made, from time to time, in different 

 parts of Europe, to discover by what means this peculiar metal was 

 formed, and to manufacture sword-blades, in other places, in imitation 

 of it ; but these attempts were never entirely successful. Some supposed 

 that the effect was due to original peculiarities in the grain of the steel 

 used at Damascus ; while others imagined that it was produced by com- 

 bining alternate plates or bars of iron and steel, and welding them 

 together, and then ticisting the compound bar when hot. Some imita- 

 tions of the Damascus blades were made in a tolerablj'- successful 

 manner, during the last century, by French armorers, under the direc- 

 tion of an officer of artillery in that country. His method was to take 

 a number of bars of steel of two kinds, differing from each other in color 

 and lustre, and laying them side by side in alternation, to weld them all 

 together, so as to form one compound rod or bar. This bar was then 

 heated to a red heat, and twisted into a spiral form, by fixing one end 

 into a vice and then turning the other by means of strong pincers. 

 Three of these twisted rods were then laid side by side and welded 

 together, and the sword-blade was then forged out of the doubly com- 

 pounded bar thus formed. On grinding and polishing the weapon thus 

 produced, the surface was found to be marked by waving variegations 

 similar to thoJ=e of the Damascus blades ; but the manufacture never 

 attained any great celebrity. The Damascus steel thus retains, and will 

 probably always retain, its traditional pre-eminence ; though it is doubt- 

 ful, after all, vv^hether the very lofty reputation which it has enjoyed is 

 not due more to the spirit of exaggeration and extravagance, in respect 

 to every thing connected with feats of arms, which prevailed in the age 

 in which it was fabricated, than to any real superiority of the metal 

 over that produced by the artisans of modern times. 



