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It's here, it's here Our local library was able to get a photocopy through the ASU library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vol. 16, No. 9, May 1958. An article was written by Stephen Grancsay, Curator of Arms and Armor "The new Galleries of Oriental Arms and Armor" A new exhibit was opened to showcase the museum's extensive collection of arms and armor from India, Persia, Turkey, Japan, and Indonesia. Most of the article was devoted to swords and armor, and a c. 1600s Turkish shield was picture with a damascened pattern similar to 'Stars and Stripes' damascus. from p. 249 The usual designation of a blade of watered (Wootz) steel is 'Damascus blade,' a name merely derived from a trading post of the caravans of East and West. It is well known, however, that the metal for the noted Damascus blades of medieval times was not made at Damascus but at Kona Samundrum near Nirma in Haiderabad. The finest blades seem to have been always made in Persia, often from imported Indian steel. Of all the signatures of oriental bladesmiths the most famous is that of Asadullah of Ispahan, the bladesmith of Shah Abbas the Great (1587-1628)... Indonesian 'Kris' and Japanese blades are also discussed. Little is said regarding the firearms in the collection BUT this is on p. 248 Their laminated steel-twist barrels were brought to a high state of perfection. It was after Napoleon's expedition to Egypt that Damascus barrels were sent to Europe and achieved so high a reputation that the method of making them was copied. In this process bars of iron and steel were placed in regular alterations and welded into one bar; then this bar, or several of them placed together, was twisted spirally and the whole welded. The patterns, like those on blade of watered steel, are intricate and ofter elegant. A c. 1600s Turkish miquelet is shown with easily identifiable but crude Two Iron Crolle, and NOT twist. Not alot of answers, but at least we know Two Iron Crolle barrels were being used by the Turks in the 1600s.
Last edited by revdocdrew; 01/17/08 10:31 PM.
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Drew, Great stuff. Circa 1600's pattern welded is truly very early stuff. Do they give a catalog number for the miquelet? Journal By Iron and Steel Institute, 1889 http://books.google.com/books?id=6xoAAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA353&dq=damascus+steel#PRA1-PA353,M1Damascus Steel.—According to Demmin,* the treatment of steel known as "damaskeening" is no longer practised at Damascus. The metal used is a cast steel, in which-a strongly marked figuration is produced by the presence of crystallised graphite, which is rendered evident by the corrosive action of acids. In 1804 Clouth imitated the oriental Damascus steel, and Stodart and Faraday considerably improved the process of manufacture. At the present time artificial polished Damascus steel is largely made in France, whence it is exported to the East. It is also made for gun barrels at Liege, and for swords at Solingen and Passau. There are black, brown, and yellow damaskeenings, which are produced in the following manner :—Several bars of steel of different hardness, or of iron, cast steel, and steel, are welded together, hardened, and formed into sword blades. They are then treated with acids, where by the harder portions acquire a dark colour, whilst the softer portions remain bright.
The figurations appear wavy, striped, or mosaic-like, according to the manner in which the various bars were hammered together. The finest and most expensive variety is said to be the Liege Eenard damaskeening, which is formed of three bars welded together, each of which consists of seventy-two iron and seventy-two steel wires. The gun barrel is formed by smithing this compound bar, which is wound round an iron cylinder placed over a mandril. When finished, the iron cylinder is drilled out.
An imitation of damaskeening, which is used in Liege for cheap sporting guns, is produced by affixing paper printed in lithographic ink on the surface of the finished iron or steel gun barrel, and into this dilute sulphuric acid is poured, which corrodes the portions of the barrel not protected by the ink on the paper. Ou heating the gun barrel, blue and brown colorations are produced Bery- und Hüttenmännische Zeitung, vol. xlviii. p. 8. 1889.—i. Indian and Oriental Armour By Lord Egerton http://books.google.com/books?id=52FDeFd...Yj8_3Y#PPA61,M1A description of how to make an Iran barrel consisting of 6 or 8 rods that are twisted. Pete
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More great stuff Pete. No, there was no catalog number. The picture was small but I'll try to zoom, scan and post. Sounds like the Metropolitan Museum has a huge collection. Any luck getting access to the collection in Chicago? BTW: Asadullah the bladesmith was from Ispahan, where they made carpets reproducing the Wootz blade patterns
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I like the carpet!
OK, so no field trip to Liege this year, perhaps New York? I have not followed up all approaches to the collection here. I will do that eventually. Also there is a curator at the Field Museum who specializes in wootz and ancient smelting techniques that I want to speak with. I am sure they have some items that are not on display.
Jauhardar, a Hindostan word applied to twisted barrels.
Pete
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"The finest and most expensive variety is said to be the Liege Renard damaskeening..." Don't tell me we've gotta identify another pattern! I'm thinking that is probably 'Bernard' rather than 'Renard.' I didn't find a Renard on the Littlegun site.
Last edited by revdocdrew; 01/18/08 02:01 PM.
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OK-with the computer expertise of Dr Beth, here are the images from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletinc. 1600 Asadullah blade c. 1600s Turkish miquelet with clearly recognizable Two Iron Crolle I'm still thinking crolle pattern welded barrels were first designed to reproduce Wootz steel appearance AND Islamic calligraphy then found to have superior metallurgical properties. Any new converts out there? jOe, rabbit?
Last edited by revdocdrew; 01/19/08 11:53 AM.
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Drew, I think you will find some similiar patterns with the rugs and shields. An Indian Shield, 17th century http://books.google.com/books?id=WXcDAAA...gerton#PPA61,M1"A Description of Indian and Oriental Armour"By Wilbraham Egerton Egerton, 1896 This is the most complete description of forge welded damascus barrels being done outside of Europe. It is said that the Persians distinguish by ten different names the varieties of watering. One of the most prized and rare is that which takes its name from the grains of yellow sand. There are, however, four main patterns generally recognised :— 1. " Kirk narduban," meaning the forty steps or rungs of the laduer, in allusion to the transverse markings of fine grey or black watering. The idea is also expressed in an inscription on one of the blades, that the undulations of the steel resemble a net across running water.
2. " Qará khorásán," nearly black, with fine undulations proceeding like water either from the point to the hilt, or the reverse way.
3. Qará Tábán, " brilliant black," with larger watering and more grey in tone.
4. Sham, or simple Damascus, including all other varieties.1 On the introduction of the use of firearms, the methodss long and perhaps exclusively known to the Asiatics, of manufacturing sword-blades of peculiar excellence, was transferred with' some modification to that of gun-barrels, and are still in use.2
In Persia, Kabul, the Punjab, and Hind the same general principles prevail, but the matchlocks of the last are held deservedly in the highest estimation.
In some parts of India the workmen prefer for the material of their barrels the iron of old sugar boilers, but they use in Kashmir the iron of Bajaur (in the country of the Yusufzai) as it comes from the smelting furnace, after receiving a few blows whilst hot, which condense it into a rude kind of pig, the weight of which varies from five to eight seers (10 to 16 Ibs.), and which sells as high as 4d. a pound. The first process consists in cutting the pig when heated into narrow strips witli a cold chisel, and in this operation the iron loses one-fourth of its gross weight. Each of these strips separately is brought to welding heat, and worked smartly under the hammers of two men on a block of limestone as an anvil. When the slag is expelled, each strip is drawn out by the hammer into a strap about 2 feet long and 11/5 inch broad, and 1/5th inch thick. One of these straps has its ends so brought together as to enable it to include about 20 other short straps cut up for the purpose, some being placed on their edge, and others wedged in between the lengths, во as to form a compact mass. It is then put into the fire and lightly heated, receiving a few blows upon both faces as well as upon the edges.
It is next smeared over with a paste of clay and water, and when dried it is exposed first to a light welding heat, and after a slight hammering to a stronger heat, when it is vigorously and quickly beaten into four-sided bars 1 Cat. Mus. Zarkoe-Seloe, p. 242. In addition to those, Sir Л. Burnes mentions " Akbaree," in which the pattern ran like a skein of silk the whole length of the Made, and " Beguraee," where it waved like a watered silk. '- Moorcroft's Travels, p. 195. 1841.
about a foot long, and a finger's thickness. These are again heated, separated, and drawn out into square rods about J-inch broad on each face. These are then twisted from right to left, while the part which is to be twisted is heated to a red heat nearly verging upon white. This process is repeated by heating two or three inches at a time, and then cooling it with cold water, till the whole rod is converted into a fine screw, which is made as even as possible.
To make an Iran barrel six or eight rods are required. When eight are employed, four of them have the twist from right to left, and four from left to right. Every rod after having been slightly heated is lightly hammered on its two opposite sides equally, so that two sides have the threads beaten down, and the two others have the threads standing, and retaining their original roundness. Each rod is now made up of lengths of the same direction of twist, and is laid parallel to the other, so that rods of opposite twist are in alternate succession.1
The steel having been formed into bars is now ready for manufacture into gun-barrels.2
The extremities of the bars are welded together, and the baud or skelp is now ready for being formed into a hollow cylinder through being twisted in a spiral line upon itself, which is begun at the breech or thicker end, and continued to the muzzle. When the twisting is so far completed that the edges of all the twists stand even, and the cylinder is nearly equal, it is coated with a thin paste of clay and water, and is then ready for being welded.
A welding heat is first taken in the middle of the cylinder, and the edges of the twists are brought together by the breech being struck down upon the stone anvil perpendicularly for the purpose of jumping up the edges. The welding is constantly repeated, so that the twist, which was jumped up, is successively hammered when the heat is well on, till the barrel has been welded up to the muzzle.
This process is then repeated, commencing from the middle to the breech, and afterwards from the middle to the muzzle, during which an iron rod is introduced at each end and tised as a mandril. A third heat nearly red is now taken at the whole surface of the barrel, which is then made regular and level by smartly hammering it. The barrel is then fixed horizontally through a hole in an upright post and bored, after which its surface is filed, polished, and prepared for bringing out the damasked lines. " Jauhar " is brought out through biting the whole surface with " kasis," a sulphate of iron.
The barrel is completely freed from grease or oil by being well rubbed with dry ashes and a clean rag. About three drachms of sulphate of iron in powder is mixed with as much water as is sufficient to bring it to the consistence of thick paste which is smeared equally over the whole surface of the barrel, the nmzzle and breech being at the same time carefully plugged. About two hours afterwards, when the metal has assumed a blackish colour, the coating is rubbed oft', and the barrel cleaned as before. 1 Barrels arc called " pechdár " when plain or simply twisted, "jnulmrdár " tvheu dunmsked. For the latter the rods are disposed according to the kind of brilliant or damasked lines to be produced, called either from the country as " Iran " or Persian, or from the figure, as " pigeon's eye," " lover's knot," " chain," &c. s Cf. Joiirn. Asiatic Soc. 1841, p. 83.; Mooreroft, II., 195, 213,
The barrel is then smeared with a preparation composed of the same quantity of sulphate of iron and four ounces of water, and is hung up in the well.
Every gunsmith has, in the floor of his shop, a well about two yards deep, the bottom of which is covered with a layer of fresh horse-dung half a yard thick. Suspended by a string from the cross stick at the mouth of the well, the barrel which has been covered with the mixture as before is taken out every morning and cleaned with dry ashes and cloth, and hung up for 24 hours with a coating of the solution. This process is continued for 20 days or a month till prominent lines are formed on the surface of the barrel, separated from each other more or less by other depressed lines or grooves ; the former will be found to have the same direction as that of the thread of the screw in the twisted rods. The prominent lines when rubbed are bright and of a colour somewhat approaching silver, while the depressed lines are dark and form the pattern.
The " zanjir " or chain damask consists in the introduction of a band of prominent and brilliant lines disposed like the links of a chain between parallel plain lines of damask. The processes are the same as before described in cutting up the " pig," and in reducing the strips into straps, but the " pie " or " ghilaf " contains only eight lengths, which when welded is drawn out into straps 1/2 inch broad and 1/8 inch thick. One of these straps being heated is bent backwards and forwards upon itself in eight continued loops, each an inch long, and is then worked up into straps 1/3 inch broad, and 1/16 inch thick. Three of this kind of strap are required in this pattern, one for the chain and two for the lines. The face of the iron anvil has a perpendicular hollow about one-quarter of an inch deep, and about one-third of an inch across. One end of the strap is laid while cold across this groove, and driven down into it by a small chisel and hammer, by which the strap receives a bend or angle. Its opposite face is then placed across the die near the acute elbow made by the chisel, and is in like manner wedged into it, after which the operation is reversed until the whole band is converted into a frill of loops. This frill is then heated, and the operator holding one end with a small pair of tongs brings two pairs of loops together leaving the ends open. This is continued till the frill is much reduced in length through the loops of the strap standing at right angles to its general direction. Different lengths of frill are welded together, so as to form a ribbon six spans long, placed in contact with two plain straps set on edge, and four rods, two on each side twisting alternately, from left to right, and the reverse. The general band of these seven straps is then treated as that for the " Irani " damask.
The chain damask is in general preferred to all other varieties, excepting the silver twist. The Kashmiris still make blades for daggers in the same way, as one which was made for the author at Srinagar to fit an Indian jade handle is damasked, and Moorcroft relates that they made sword blades for him to order, though they did not usually manufacture them. It is said that " jauhar " is imitated in Hindostán by lines being traced in a coating of wax laid over the metal, and the barrel being exposed to the action of sulphate of iron. Pete
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Looks like Desire Mineur, of Prayon, Liege, had quite the chutzpah trying to claim exclusive rights to "Chain-pattern" damascus in 1904
Last edited by revdocdrew; 01/20/08 10:26 AM.
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Well you have to hand it to revdocdrew. I just got a copy of Heuse-Limoine, "Manufacture of Damascus Gun-Barrels" circa 1894. He states on page 4; The Barrels thus manufactured with good charcoal iron proved to be already a great progress with respect to solidity, but offered of the Damascus appearance which was visible by certain traces of the spiral produced by the appearance of the fibres or the varnish of the metal....
....almost like the designs on our hanging papers in our rooms, with the only difference, that in these the variety is produced by the colours on the surface, whilst the figures on the Damascus are produced by the substance or material like the designs or patterns in our linnen-weavers. So, we have a major Damascus barrel maker of the period who sees the patterns of his barrels in wall paper and linen. Which leads full circle. The Victoria and Albert museum has examples of Walloon Turkish rugs... Pete
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Last edited by revdocdrew; 02/01/08 09:11 PM.
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