question: How are there Damascus steel knives if we don’t know how to make it?
comment: We do know how to make it and actually can make better with modern processes. This is one of those yarns about ancient technology being mysterious and better. Total BS.
passages: There are other smiths who are now consistently producing Wootz steel blades visually identical to the old patterns.
  
  Wootz was made over nearly a 2,000-year period (the oldest sword samples date to around 200 AD) and the methods of production of ingots, the ingredients, and the methods of forging varied from one area to the next. Some Wootz blades displayed a pattern, while some did not. Heat treating was quite different from forging, and there were many different patterns which were created by the various smiths who spanned from China to Scandinavia.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Damascus steel
   One of these bladesmiths was William F. Moran, who forged his knives using a coal forge in the manner of a blacksmith using a hammer and anvil to shape the steel. Moran began trying to revive the ancient process of forging Damascus steel in the late 1960s. However, no living bladesmith knew the exact techniques and without a recipe for the process, it was in danger of being lost; through trial and error he taught himself pattern welding and referred to his end product as "Damascus steel".
   This "Modern Damascus" is made from several types of steel and iron slices welded together to form a billet (semi-finished product), and currently, the term "Damascus" (although technically incorrect) is widely accepted to describe modern pattern welded steel blades in the trade. The patterns vary depending on how the smith works the billet. The billet is drawn out and folded until the desired number of layers are formed. To attain a Master Smith rating with the American Bladesmith Society that Moran founded, the smith must forge a Damascus blade with a minimum of 300 layers.
  
  Section::::Reproduction.:Verhoeven and Pendray: crucible.
   The original method of producing wootz is not known. Modern attempts to duplicate the metal have not been entirely successful due to differences in raw materials and manufacturing techniques. Several individuals in modern times have claimed that they have rediscovered the methods by which the original Damascus steel was produced.
   The original wootz was imported from India to Damascus, where Middle Eastern bladesmiths forged them into swords. Due to the distance of trade for this steel, a sufficiently lengthy disruption of the trade routes could have ended the production of Damascus steel and eventually led to the loss of the technique. As well, the need for key trace impurities of tungsten or vanadium within the materials needed for production of the steel may be absent if this material was acquired from different production regions or smelted from ores lacking these key trace elements. The technique for controlled thermal cycling after the initial forging at a specific temperature could also have been lost, thereby preventing the final damask pattern in the steel from occurring.
   Section::::Reproduction.:Additional research.
  
  A team of researchers based at the Technical University of Dresden that used x-rays and electron microscopy to examine Damascus steel discovered the presence of cementite nanowires and carbon nanotubes. Peter Paufler, a member of the Dresden team, says that these nanostructures are a result of the forging process.
  
  Sanderson proposes that the process of forging and annealing accounts for the nano-scale structures.
  
  Section::::Reproduction.:In gunmaking.
   The reputation and history of Damascus steel has given rise to many legends, such as the ability to cut through a rifle barrel or to cut a hair falling across the blade. A research team in Germany published a report in 2006 revealing nanowires and carbon nanotubes in a blade forged from Damascus steel. Although many types of modern steel outperform ancient Damascus alloys, chemical reactions in the production process made the blades extraordinary for their time, as Damascus steel was superplastic and very hard at the same time. During the smelting process to obtain Wootz steel ingots, woody biomass and leaves are known to have been used as carburizing additives along with certain specific types of iron rich in microalloying elements. These ingots would then be further forged and worked into Damascus steel blades. Research now shows that carbon nanotubes can be derived from plant fibers, suggesting how the nanotubes were formed in the steel. Some experts expect to discover such nanotubes in more relics as they are analyzed more closely.
   The discovery of carbon nanotubes in the Damascus steel's composition supports this hypothesis, since the precipitation of carbon nanotubes probably resulted from a specific process that may be difficult to replicate should the production technique or raw materials used be significantly altered.
  
  Section::::Reproduction.
  
  Recreating Damascus steel is a subfield of experimental archaeology. Many have attempted to discover or reverse-engineer the process by which it was made.
  
  Section::::Reproduction.:Moran: billet welding.
   Many bladesmiths are able to forge a special type of steel using a technique called pattern welding, producing a metal erroneously referred to as Damascus steel. Modern pattern-welded steel can be highly decorative as well as durable (if welded in certain ways with proper steels), and is often used in custom knife- and sword-crafting. Bill Moran is said to be the "Father of Modern Damascus Steel".
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Sword replica
  
  BULLET::::- Metalsmith
  
  BULLET::::- Kris
  
  Section::::Further reading.
  
  BULLET::::- Erik; Jones, F.D. Oberg. "Machinery's Handbook 13th Ed", 1946.
  
  BULLET::::- Legendary Swords' Sharpness, Strength From Nanotubes, Study Says
  
  Section::::External links.
   Bladesmithing was common practice in India during the Middle Ages. A special type of steel known as Wootz or Damascus steel was often used in South Asia. The term Damascus steel can refer to two different types of artefacts. One is the true Damascus steel, or Wootz steel, which is a high carbon alloy with tremendous edge retention possibly due to its composition of carbon nanotubes and carbide nanowires, with a wavy surface texture originating from the crystalline structure of alloy metals such as tungsten and vanadium - elements that occur naturally in iron ore from southern India - to the surface during the manufacturing process. This is still in debate as metallurgist John Verhoeven at Iowa State University believes the nanowires to occur in most steels. The other is a composite structure made by welding together iron and steel to give a visible pattern on the surface, called pattern welded steel. Although both were referred to as Damascus steels, true Damascus steels were not replicated in Europe until 1821.
   Section::::Reproduction.:Anosov, Wadsworth and Sherby: bulat.
   Since the well-known technique of pattern welding - the forge-welding of a blade from several differing pieces - produced surface patterns similar to those found on Damascus blades, some modern blacksmiths were erroneously led to believe that the original Damascus blades were made using this technique. However today, the difference between wootz steel and pattern welding is fully documented and well understood. Pattern-welded steel has been referred to as "Damascus steel" since 1973 when Bladesmith William F. Moran unveiled his "Damascus knives" at the Knifemakers' Guild Show. 
   Modern bladesmiths use a variety of steels to produce their blades, most commonly high carbon steel, such as SAE 1075 or SAE 1095 (the '10' representing the 10-series carbon steels, while '75' '85' and '95' reflect the carbon content of the steel), tool steel such as O-1, A-2, D2 other tool or high carbon steels, or a variety of steels welded in layers, commonly referred to as "Damascus".
   During the Middle ages, Damascus steel was produced in India and brought back to Europe. The similarities in the markings led many to believe it was the same process being used, and pattern welding was revived by European smiths who were attempting to duplicate the Damascus steel. While the methods used by Damascus smiths to produce their blades was lost, recent efforts by metallurgists and bladesmiths (such as Verhoeven and Pendray) to reproduce steel with identical characteristics have yielded a process that does not involve pattern welding. However even these attempts have not been a huge success.
   In Russia, chronicles record the use of a material known as bulat steel to make highly valued weapons, including swords, knives, and axes. Tsar Michael of Russia reportedly had a bulat helmet made for him in 1621. The exact origin or the manufacturing process of the bulat is unknown, but it was likely imported to Russia via Persia and Turkestan, and it was similar and possibly the same as Damascus steel. Pavel Petrovich Anosov made several attempts to reproduce the process in the mid-19th century. Wadsworth and Sherby also researched the reproduction of bulat steel and published their results in 1980.
   Section::::History.
  
  Damascus blades were first manufactured in the Near East from ingots of wootz steel that were imported from India, as well as Sri Lanka. The Arabs introduced the wootz steel to Damascus, where a weapons industry thrived. From the 3rd century to the 17th century, steel ingots were being shipped to the Middle East from India.
  
  Section::::History.:Loss of the technique.
   The blade of the knife is made of homogenous finely grained yellowish flint, a type of Egyptian flint called chert. Flint is widely available in Egypt, from Cairo to Esna, but the blades of ceremonial flint knives were exclusively made of caramel colored chert, perhaps because this colour resembles that of metal. The blade was produced from the original stone in five stages:
  
  BULLET::::- Roughing of the original stone.
  
  BULLET::::- Preformation of the blade by percussion flaking.
   Production of these patterned swords gradually declined, ceasing by around 1750, and the process was lost to metalsmiths. Several modern theories have ventured to explain this decline, including the breakdown of trade routes to supply the needed metals, the lack of trace impurities in the metals, the possible loss of knowledge on the crafting techniques through secrecy and lack of transmission, suppression of the industry in India by the British Raj, or a combination of all the above.
   Within months, a handful of knifemakers had begun making Damascus blades: Bill Bagwell, Don Hastings, Michael Connor, and Sid Birt. By 1976 more than a dozen bladesmiths were making Damascus steel, and on December 4, 1976, Moran wrote the by-laws.
   The blade steel used by Spyderco over the years include:
  
  154CM an American stainless cutlery steel
  
  52100, a ball bearing steel used in the first run of the Mule project.
  
  8Cr13MoV, a Chinese stainless steel tempered at the RC56 to RC58 range and used in the Tenacious, Persistence, Ambitious, Resilience, Grasshopper, Kiwi3 and Byrd lines of knives. Often compared to AUS-8, but with slightly more carbon.
  
  9Cr18Mo, a Chinese stainless steel used mostly in high-end barbering scissors and surgical tools.
  
  440C, a stainless steel known for corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening.
   Damascus steel
  
  Damascus steel was the forged steel comprising the blades of swords smithed in the Near East from ingots of Wootz steel imported from India and Sri Lanka. These swords are characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water, or in a "ladder" or "teardrop" pattern. Such blades were reputed to be tough, resistant to shattering, and capable of being honed to a sharp, resilient edge.
   Moran forged his knives using a coal forge in the manner of a blacksmith using a hammer and anvil to shape the steel. In the 1950s he was one of the last few bladesmiths in the United States, forging his metal as opposed to grinding blades out of stock. Moran began trying to revive the ancient process of forging Damascus steel in the late 1960s. However, few living bladesmiths knew the exact techniques and without a recipe for the process, it was in danger of being lost; through trial and error he taught himself pattern welding and referred to it as "Damascus steel".
   BULLET::::- CPM REX 45 (HS) is an 8% cobalt modification of M3 high speed steel made by the CPM process. As of September 2018 this steel was used in some limited-run production knives from Spyderco.
  
  BULLET::::- CPM REX 54 HS is a cobalt-bearing high speed steel designed to offer an improvement in the red hardness of the popular M4 grade, while maintaining wear properties equivalent to M4.
  
  BULLET::::- CPM REX 66 (HSS) is a super high speed steel made by the CPM process.
   Two worn and battered knives can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the National Archaeological Museum (France).
  
  The perfect similarity between the blades of these knives and that of the Gebel el-Arak led scholar Diane L. Holmes to propose that the knives were all produced by a small number of workshops in one area and may be the product of a few craftsmen who practised this extremely specialized skill over a period of a few generations 
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- The Gebel el Arak knife, Images on the backside of the handle
   The tools to make Husa knives include a wooden bellows, a clay-made stove, as well as hammers, clamps, and iron pillows. Raw iron with high carbon content is selected by an experienced old master from specific locations around Baoshan, Tengchong regions, the traditional mine areas in Yunnan. Younger craftsmen, put the selected raw iron into the stove, heating, forging repeatedly, to purify the texture and form different shapes. The resulting metal is ground into blade blanks; and after all these lengthy processes, comes the most important and subtlest process: quenching. Quenching technology requires special know-how. The quality of a knife, largely depends on the quenching skills. There is a kind of thin blade Husa back sword which can bend its blade as a cycle. It can only be built after repeatedly and precisely water quenching and oil tempering.
  
presuppositions: We don't know how to make Damascus steel knives. We don't know how to make Damascus steel knives.
corrections: We do know how to make Damascus steel knives. We do not how to make Damascus steel knives.
raw_presuppositions: We don't know how to make Damascus steel knives. We don't know how to make Damascus steel knives.
raw_corrections: We do know how to make Damascus steel knives. We do not how to make Damascus steel knives.