"Wootz"

[Rupert Lucius]

Thank you for posting -

My wife from Cuernavaca, Mexico helps me with Spanish -

The Wootz topic is of interest to me and the weapons created from Wootz

Rupert
Here in Louisiana

[Mike Brubacher]

...and more Wootz.

I recently returned from my trip to India. I spent the majority of my time in the city of Hyderabad and the State of Goa, all of which is regarded loosely as the "Deccan" region. The Deccan was ruled for a few hundred years by the "Nizams", a series of seven rulers who ruled from and were centered in Hyderabad until the dynasty ended with Indian independence in 1947. 

As discussed earlier in this thread, the Hyderabad area is rumored to be the source of the ore from which Wootz steel is derived. I spent a couple days in search of examples of Wootz steel weapons based on information received from a knowledgeable source in the region. I asked him if it was still possible to find and purchase Wootz steel weapons and here, in an excerpt from one email, is his answer to my question: 


"Wootz steel would only remain in dreams of many people. Currently it could only be seen in some museums and with some royal clan. The royals wont even allow their armour to be seen by outsiders. 
Even if someone offers to be one, the chances of them being true wootz would be one in million. 
In Hyderabad, there is the Salarjung museum where the true embellished royal weapons are in display. Take a look them."

So I did. I also visited the Chowmahalla Palace (home of the Nizams) where more weapons were on display. So  I took some pictures and the first provides interesting reading. I was left with the impression from the video link provided by Smurfs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP8PCkcBZU4 that the etched appearance of authentic wootz was inherent to the ore from which the steel was derived.  If the video is watched to it's conclusion, the experimenters determine that their effort to produce wootz was a failure because the product of the experiment did not have the etched appearance of wootz. The information found in the museum seems to belie that line of thought:


                                                      

So here we see that the museum believes that the production and appearance of wootz steel weapons was derived in much the same method and manner as the process and production of Damascus steel blades. A layering and welding process. Here is a closeup of a portion of a blade found in the Salarjung Museum and configured of wootz steel. 

                                                      

Of course the distinctive pattern of the steel is clearly evident. One other interesting piece of information I picked up while at the museum - the Indians very readily embraced weapons composed of English steel once the British arrived and regarded them as superior to their own. Here's a few more pics for your perusal. The pictures were taken at both the museum and the palace.