Hello All,
In 2001 I filmed a video of the destruction of a wootz sword.
Here it is in three parts:
http://doorcountyforgeworks.com/Wootz.html

WARNING
This may be a bit painful for some of you.

Ric

Interesting but wish there where some comments about what the results showed.

Hard to tell but I think the steel bent uniformly in a smooth curve initially but when the plastic deformation sets in it seems to bend much more at the pressure point.

The welded section of blade seemed to hold up as well as the rest of the old blade and the modern blade seemed to bend about the same amount before breaking ...... although numbers about pressure might give us more information.

Also would be nice to find the chemical or structural analyse done with the pieces.

Would also be very interesting to know the hardness of the old blade and if that hardness varied over the length or width of the blade.

Sounds good and I can understand not wanting to give all the information away as I assume you want to sell the DVD. ;)

If you can reveal a limited amount of information as a teaser it would be appreciate and it does seem like a DVD I would find interesting and might buy. ( Disclaimer: I never make promises or commitments I don't intend to keep but the odds are high that I would buy the DVD, but no promises at this time ).

Your site was also interesting to have a quick look at and I should go back to it to read more of it.

I would also find interesting to know the limits of what we can expect from period metallurgy but also the limits of the best we can make with modern materials and techniques. ( Well short of Unobtanium I assume that there are limits that even the best made and optimally heat treated steel can't surpass ...... everything has a point where testing becomes destructive testing ).

In general a ballpark idea of the zone where hard use become abuse a sword shouldn't be expected to come out of it without some major damage beyond aesthetic damage.

These might be interesting as a DVD also. ;) :D :cool: