Thread: Damascus steel and razor care

Some early Victorian razors may well have used the wootz steel which came from India (originally via Damascus, although I would guess that the land route was superseded by then.) I don't believe there was any practical reason for it to be laminated. I would suspect that it was far more common for "Damascus steel" or "India Fine Steel" to be stamped on blades of domestically produced steel.

I have "Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny 1857-59" by the former Sergeant William Forbes-Mitchell of the 93rd Highlanders, who formed the core of the British assault troops in the relief of Lucknow. He has an appendix on swords, which although not himself a swordsman, he had frequently seen used to terrible effect in desperate combat. He strongly condemns the Birmingham practice of making swords of spring steel, and tempered so that they can be bend hilt to tip. He considers them far inferior in cutting power, due to their bluntness and tendency to vibrate, to sharp swords of damascus steel, which he describes as being as rigid as cast-iron, or a razor.

But even writing in 1892, he describes the true damascus blade as something few have seen, and recounts conversations of the 1860s which suggest that the art was practically dead then. This is supported by the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel . (That same article describes its carbon content as 1.5%, which is high, so perhaps lamination, possibly with other steels, would be required for shock resistance in a sword.) I would be sceptical of claims that there was a substantial trade in wootz/damascus steel to the west at that time.