When the brave and experienced fighting Christian knights trekked the long route to the holy lands to fight the Muslims they were in for a terrible surprise.  They were beaten and beaten hard and repeatedly and eventually sent packing back to England and Europe defeated.

What they were not prepared for was the secret weapon of the enemy they came to easily slaughter in the name of God.  The Muslim fighters had a superior weapon and that was Damascus steel.

Their swords and daggers were made from this vastly superior steel.  It is said, and probably a fanciful bit of exaggeration, that a Damascus sword could slice through a silk scarf falling through the air.  True or not, the Damascus sword was amazingly sharp but also much stronger than normal steel.

So the Muslims had the capability to cut a strand of hair off or hack through the armor of the crusader.  It is frustrating to fight sword against sword when you opponent’s weapon can break yours in half.

This technology is used in some special jewellery called Damascus Jewellery today.  But it is not the strength of the metal that is sought but the look of it.  Damascus steel is characterized by the pattern on the metal.  “Damas” in Arabic means water and it is sometimes thought that the term Damascus steel originates from this and the pattern on the metal which resembles various forms of windswept, rippling water.

So today we have some stunning jewellery in the form of rings, bangles, chokers and bracelets called Damascus Jewellery.  It has this characteristic pattern, mostly a swirling, twisting, overlapping effect.  

Ore was smelted in Hyberdad in southern India and put into crucibles and made in solid pieces of metal called billets.  These billets were taken to Damascus in Syria and forged into swords and daggers.  The metal was folded melted together, folded again, and this process was continued until it was finally melted and hammered into a sword with great strength and beauty.

For a couple of hundred years the metallurgy technique was lost to the world and but the sword smith techniques have continued so today we can get a Damascus ring made from two different metals hammered and forged together with the original looking patterns of the Damascus steel.  In a sense it is wrong to call it Damascus as it is only part of the original process but it doesn’t need the original sharpness or strength either.

Gary Hocking