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Damascus steel
Sign in to savetype of steel used in Middle Eastern swordmaking
Wikidata facts
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- intangible cultural heritage status
- National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in France
- different from
- damascening
- Commons category
- Damascus steel
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Close-up of a 13th-century Persian-forged Damascus steel sword
Damascus steel (Arabic: فولاذ دمشقي, romanized: fūlāḏ Damašqiyy) is the high-carbon crucible steel of the blades of historical swords forged using the wootz process in the Near East, characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water, sometimes in a "ladder" or "rose" pattern. Damascus steel was reputed to be tough, resistant to shattering, and capable of being honed to a sharp, resilient edge. This is not to be confused with damascene, which is a form of metal inlaying.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Damascus steel” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.