Seven kinds of ancient patterned steel

Seven kinds of ancient patterned steel

There are many kinds of modern patterned steel knives, besides the hand-forged Damascus knives/wrought iron represented by craftsmen's workshops, there are also Swedish powder knives and imitation Damascus knives engraved with patterns by coating or laser carving. Imitation Jane Pride steel has appeared again. In a word, the popularity of patterned steel knives reflects people's enthusiasm for the art of casting swords in the ancient cold weapon era.

The performance of steel smelted by indigenous method in ancient times was very poor, and it was highly dependent on late forging, so various forging processes were born, and patterned steel was the product of complex forging. According to the research of experts in the history of metallurgical science and technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, there are at least seven known ancient world patterns steel processes. Most of the first-class treasure knives in the Iron Age (more than 90%) are specially forged patterned steel knives, and a few are made of meteorites or other special processes.

First, cast steel.

It is made of Indian wootz steel, also known as Blatter steel in Russia.

Second, forging patterned steel.

It is forged from two (or more) iron-carbon alloys with very different carbon contents. For example, the forged Damascus steel handed down from craftsmen's workshops, the modern Damascus steel respected by ABS Knife Association of the United States, the folded steel in Peiping in the 1930 s, the wrought iron mentioned in Volume 35 of Tang Huilin's Classics, and the rib-grinding pattern of Japanese knives all belong to this category.

Third, weld patterned steel.

Such as Damascus steel and Malay sword steel along the Baltic Sea.

The fourth type, 10000 square cast patterned steel.

It is made of pig iron and "wrought iron", as Zhang Xie said in Seven Lives. In my opinion, Hundred Steelmaking seems to belong to this category.

Fifthly, local heat treatment of patterned steel.

Such as the blade steel of a Japanese knife.

Sixth, locally carburized textured steel.

For example, in the first volume of Wu Bian in Ming Dynasty, the fifth volume contains "Iron", and in the volume of Seal Cutting Needle Degree in Qing Dynasty, it is said.

Seventh, embedded steel file iron grain steel.

Before 1930s, Peiping used Maya steel, which was commonly known by the people. Maya steel has three layers, the middle layer is steel, and there are two layers of "iron" on each side; File the "iron material" on both sides alternately with a file, and you can get a horse tooth pattern after forging.

The most popular Damascus patterned steel is undoubtedly the folding forged patterned steel knife and the Swedish powder steel Damascus knife. Ruifen is not listed as one of the seven ancient ribbed steel processes because it is the product of modern technology. The following is a sample of folded forged Damascus knife handed down from craftsmen's workshop, which is called modern Damascus knife in Europe and America and iron art in ancient China.