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Pattern welding is the practice in sword and knife making of hammering out the metal, folding it over, and welding the metal piece back onto itself. Pattern welding is so called because a blade forged in this manner often displays bands of slightly different coloration along its entire length. These bands can be brought out for cosmetic purposes, one common technique being acid etching.Pattern welding was originally developed in Europe by Germanic peoples as a way of reducing slag and impurities from the metal and homogenizing the often erratic carbon content of the iron and steel yielded by early metallurgy. Batches of steel from this era had large areas of very different composition, and by pounding them together the impurities could be evened out. The technique first appeared in about 100- 200 AD, and by 500 AD was being used by the Merovingian dynasty. Through their successors, the Carolingian dynasty, the technique became common throughout Europe by about 700Alternate uses, see Number 700. Events Saint Adamnan convinces 51 kings to adopt Cain Adomnain defining the relationship between women and priests. Births Deaths Cunincpert, king of the Lombards Saint Osyth 700. AD.
However during the Dark AgesThe Dark Ages is a concept invented in the early 14th Century by the poet Petrarch who used it to describe the preceding 900 years in Europe, beginning with the fall of the western Roman Empire in 410 through to the renewal embodied in the Renaissance. the technique was slowly lost, and by 1300Events Beginning of the Renaissance. Abacus first used in China. Money from Florence, Italy becomes the first International Currency. Philip IV of France begins attempt to annex Flanders. Wenceslas II of Bohemia becomes King of Poland. Jubilee of Pope Bon AD there are no examples of its use. This is particularly interesting, because it was during this same period that Damascus steelDamascus steel is a type of steel alloy that is both strong and malleable, a material that is perfect for the building of swords. The process was used between about 900 and 1600 in the Middle East, and then disappeared for reasons that are not entirely un was being produced in the Middle EastThe Middle East is a geographical and cultural area comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Middle East is a subregion of Afr, and similarities in the markings led many to believe it was the same process being used. Swords made by pattern welding are sometimes said to be DamascusThis is about Damascus, the capital of Syria. There is also a Damascus, Maryland, a Damascus, Oregon, a Damascus, Pennsylvania, and a Damascus, Virginia. Damascus ( Arabic: Dimashq Dimashq al-Sham al-Sham Tiberian Hebrew Dammeseq Dammseq Sephardi Hebrew D swords, though the process of making Damascus steelDamascus steel is a type of steel alloy that is both strong and malleable, a material that is perfect for the building of swords. The process was used between about 900 and 1600 in the Middle East, and then disappeared for reasons that are not entirely un is an entirely different technique.
Pattern welding again fell from use in Europe during the 18th century17th century 18th century 19th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701- 1800; however, historians will sometimes specifically refer to the 18th Century as 1715- 89,, when English metalsmiths discovered the pudding furnaceThe pudding furnace is a metalmaking technology used to create wrought iron. Molten iron was vigorously stirred using a stiff iron rod known as a rabbling-bar to expose the molten metal to the oxygen in the air. The excess carbon in the iron is burnt out, and then re-discovered the Indian crucible-fired steels ( wootz steel) which were far superior to any mechanical methods. By the 19th century pattern welding had largely disappeared, although today it is used in custom knife making, as a cosmetic enhancement.
The technique is more commonly associated with Japan, where it reached a high degree of development in the 14th century. Today the Japanese katana is still considered by many to be the best sword ever produced, and is so famed that the technique of folding metal to form blades is still thought by many to be Japanese in origin.
Steel
Metalworking
