Damascus Steel Is NOT a Lost Art — Stop Letting People Fool You!

Yes, you read that right. Despite what countless YouTube videos, forums, and clickbait titles have claimed — “true” Damascus steel is NOT some lost, ancient wizardry. It's not a dead art. It’s not an unsolvable mystery. It’s real, it’s well-documented, and yes — modern bladesmiths can and DO make it.

Also — let’s clear the air: many people confuse pattern-welded steel with crucible steel, and call both "Damascus." While that’s common in casual conversation, it’s important to distinguish the two. 

Over time, people have used the term “Damascus” rather loosely — it’s been applied to both the layered, folded steels and the high-carbon crucible types. For example, in 18th and 19th century Germany, weapons marked as "Damastahl" were typically made using the layered welding method. However, despite the similar surface aesthetics, the ways these steels are produced — and how they behave — are entirely distinct processes with very different outcomes.

For the sake of clarity: when we say "true Damascus steel", we’re referring to historical crucible steel with its distinctive patterns formed during solidification — not the layered steel known today as Damascus. Both types deserve admiration, but only crucible steel was ever rumored to be "lost."

So before you drop your hard-earned coins on a knife or sword claiming to be made of "lost Damascus," take a deep breath... and let me walk you through what’s really going on.

So, What Is Damascus Steel — Really?

"Damascus steel" is a term that has confused people for centuries. In fact, it refers to two very different types of steel:

1. Pattern-Welded Steel (What You Usually See Today)

Think of it as the steel version of a croissant: layers on layers. Blacksmiths stack different kinds of steel (often high and low in nickel), forge-weld them, fold them, and twist them to create hypnotic wave-like patterns.

The result? Beautiful blades with a marbled look. You’ll see this kind of Damascus in many chef’s knives and even swords.

👉 At NIMOFAN Katana, our own Folded Steel katanas fall into this category — a modern homage to historical techniques. If you’re a collector or practitioner, check out our most-loved blades:

• Katana - Cherry Blossom

• Katana - Kunshiran

• Katana - Musashi

• Shirasaya - Suikage

2. Crucible Steel — aka the “Real” Damascus Steel

This is the stuff myths are made of. Made by melting high-carbon steel in a sealed clay crucible with organic additives, this steel develops its own natural pattern thanks to alloy segregation and carbide formation. That’s right — the pattern isn’t folded in; it grows inside the steel itself like a snowflake forming in a storm.

This type of steel has been made for over 2,000 years, from ancient India to Persia to Sri Lanka. It’s also known by names like wootz, pulad, bulat, and fuladh — none of which, by the way, are “Damascus.” That name? Probably a medieval marketing term.

How Is Damascus Steel Made?

Let’s break it down simply, then geek out with the specifics.

TL;DR Version:

• Start with a mix of pure iron and some cast iron (kind of like a steel smoothie base).

• Toss in a dash of nature: think dried leaves, ground-up shells, or even pomegranate peels — grandma’s spice rack meets metallurgy.

• Seal it all in a clay pot (called a crucible — basically a medieval Instant Pot), and heat it until everything melts into molten metal soup.

• Then comes the cool part — literally. Let it cool down slowly, like overnight oatmeal. This slow chill is what gives the steel its natural swirly patterns.

• Finally, heat the steel back up to glowing red, and give it a gentle forge workout. Not too hot, not too hard. You're coaxing the pattern out, not beating it into submission.

The Historical Recipes:

Bukhara Method (c. 1800s):

• 3 parts clean iron, 1 part cast iron.

• Melt in tall clay crucibles for ~6 hours.

• Add ~15g of silver during bubbling.

• Seal and cool for 3 days.

• Remove, polish, and forge at red heat.

South Indian Method (Tamil Nadu):

• 250–500g of bloomery iron + wood chips, vines, or rice husks.

• Fired in clay crucibles for ~6 hours.

• Cooled slowly (sometimes quenched).

• Shows striations when done right.

Deccani (Hyderabad) Method:

• Mix iron from different ores + glass.

• Seal in crucibles, fire for 24 hours.

• Cool in air.

• Anneal (soften) repeatedly in a forge.

Isfahan Method (Iran):

• 2 parts iron, 1 part cast iron, 3 parts silicate-rich ore + certain plants.

• Fired in kilns with bellows for 6 days.

• Then annealed in a heated chamber for 2 days.

All these methods vary slightly but share a theme: control the carbon, cool it slow, and trust the process.

Is Damascus Steel Good?

Short answer: yes, but it depends.

If we’re talking about the layered kind (pattern-welded): You’re getting serious eye candy. Blades like these catch light and attention — perfect for display or slicing through air (or sushi). Performance depends on what steels were used and how well the smith did their job. Many martial artists and sword collectors (including our NIMOFAN family) love this style for its strength and beauty.

Now, if we’re talking the real deal — crucible steel: This was the prestige material back in the day. It could be ultra-sharp, super clean, and durable enough to make kings smile — if done right. But quality wasn’t guaranteed. Some blades came out flexible like a gymnast, others snapped like cold spaghetti. It all depended on who made it and how careful they were with the heat and ingredients.

What did people in history actually say?

In the 14th century, historian Ali Ibn Hudhayl noted that certain Indian-made blades could become brittle in cold weather — kind of like your phone battery dying in winter. On the other hand, 12th-century scholar Al-Idrisi claimed that nothing could out-cut a blade made from this steel. Travelers like Bertrandon de la Brocquiere in the 1400s were totally wowed by blades sold in Damascus markets. Even Polish royalty got in on the action — King Zygmunt III ordered swords made from this steel in Persia and had them shipped back home in the 1600s.

Oh, and one Persian shamshir made of crucible steel in the 12th century? It sold for the medieval equivalent of a luxury car — around 100 gold dinars. Yep, ancient bling.

No matter how many poets and princes praised it, the truth is that crucible steel owed its legendary status to one big factor: it was super clean. Unlike many older steels that were full of slag and mystery lumps, this stuff had very few non-metallic inclusions, which made it less likely to snap from internal flaws. But—and here’s the real kicker—not all crucible steel was created equal. Some batches were richer in carbon or phosphorus than others, and the forging and heat treatment varied wildly from smith to smith.

Compared to bloomery steel that needed endless folding and beating to get usable, crucible steel came out much more uniform. And when refined blast furnace steel later hit the scene, it also needed to be hammered into shape, but still couldn’t match the cleanliness crucible steel naturally had.

Take Japanese swords for example — even after tons of folding, under the microscope they still show little black blotches of slag in the martensitic steel. 

Now, was crucible steel always tough? Not really. It depended on how it was treated. Too much phosphorus or sulfur? Snap. Wrong heat cycle? Snap. Some blades could flex like a yoga instructor, others took a set after one good bend. People have even claimed they could bend crucible steel swords 90 degrees — but plenty of museum pieces show that once bent, they stayed that way.

Bottom line? Whether it performed like a champ or a chump came down to the smith’s skill, the materials used, and a whole lot of fire management.

Why People Think It Was a Lost Art

Between the late 1800s and mid-1900s, almost nobody was making crucible steel anymore. Modern steelmaking took over. The old ways were forgotten in practice — but not in writing.

Thanks to early metallurgists like Michael Faraday (yep, the famous guy) and Pavel Anosov, as well as modern researchers like Verhoeven and Wadsworth, we know exactly how it was made.

So no, it’s not lost. It was just... on a really long coffee break.

Final Word — Don’t Fall for the Myth

Damascus steel is not some mystical miracle material. It's either:

• Pattern-welded steel — gorgeous, folded, and widely made today (like our Folded Steel NIMOFAN Katanas), or

• Crucible steel — challenging to make, but very much alive and well among serious smiths.

So next time someone says “they don’t make ‘em like they used to,” just smile, sip your tea, and send them this article.

Research & References (for the nerds — we see you 👀)

• Alipour, R., Rehren, T., Martinón-Torres, M. "Chromium crucible steel was first made in Persia", Journal of Archaeological Science, Vol. 127, 2021

   

• Al-Hassan, A.Y., 1978, Iron and Steel Technology in Medieval Arabic Sources, Journal for the History of Arabic Science 2: 1,31-43

   

• Anosov, P.P. (1841) On the Bulats (Damascus Steels). Mining Journal, 2, 157-317.

   

• Dube, R.K. (2014) Wootz: Erroneous Transliteration of Sanskrit "Utsa" used for Indian Crucible Steel. JOM 66, 2390–2396

   

• Feuerbach, A. M. 2002. Crucible steel in Central Asia: production, use and origins.

   

• Feuerbach, A. M. 2006. Crucible damascus steel: A fascination for almost 2,000 years. JOM, 58, 48-50.

   

• Khorasani, Manouchehr & Hynninen, Niko. (2013). Reproducing crucible steel: A practical guide and a comparative analysis to persian manuscripts. Gladius. 33. 157-192. 10.3989/gladius.2013.0007.

   

• Sasisekaran, B. & B. Raghunatha Rao, (1999) Technology of Iron and Steel in Kodumanal: An Ancient Industrial Centre in Tamilnadu, IJHS 34.4 (1999) 263-72.

   

• Sasisekaran, B. (2002) Metallurgy and Metal Industry in Ancient Tamilnadu -an Archaeological study, IJHS 37.1 17-30.

   

• Muratowicz, S., Minasowicz, J.E., Mitzler de Kolof, M. (1777) Relacya Sefera

• Muratowicza Obywatela Warszawskiego Od Zygmunta III Krola Polskiego Dla Sprawowania Rzeczy Wysłanego do Persyi w Roku 1602. Warsaw, published by J. K. Mci y Rzpltey Mitzlerowskiey.

   

• Park, J.‐S., Rajan, K., and Ramesh, R. (2020) High‐carbon steel and ancient sword‐making as observed in a double‐edged sword from an Iron Age megalithic burial in Tamil Nadu, India. Archaeometry, 62: 68– 80.

   

• Sachse, Damascus Steel: Myth, History, Technology, Applications (Wirtschaftseverk: N.W. Verl. Fur Neue Wiss, 1994).

   

• Said, Al-Beruni's Book on Mineralogy: The Book Most Comprehensive in Knowledge on Precious Stones (Islamabad: Pakistan Hijra Council, 1989), pp. 219–220.

   

• T., F. Metallurgical Researches of Michael Faraday. Nature 129, 45–47 (1932).

   

• Verhoeven, J., A.H. Pendray, WE. Dauksch, 1998, The Key Role of Impurities in Ancient Damascus Steel Blades, JOM 50:9, 58-64

   

• J.D Verhoeven, A.H Pendray, W.E. Dauksch, 2018, Damascus steel revisited, JOM vol 70, pp 1331-1336

   

• Oleg D. Sherby: "Damascus Steel Rediscovered?" 1979, Trans. ISIJ, 19(7) p. 381--390.

   

• J. Wadsworth and OD. Sherby, 1980 "On the Bulat - Damascus Steels Revisited", Progress in Materials Science. 25 p. 35 - 68

   

• Sherby, O.D. and Wadsworth, J., 1983-84 "Damascus Steels --- Myths, Magic and Metallurgy", The Stanford Engineer, p. 27 - 37.

   

• J. Wadsworth and O.D. Sherby, "Damascus Steel Making", 1983, Science, 216, p. 328-330. 1985

   

• Oleg D. Sherby, T. Oyama, Kum D. M., B. Walser, and J. Wadsworth, 1985, "Ultrahigh Carbon Steels". J. Metals, 37(6) p. 50 - 56.

   

• Oleg D. Sherby and Jeffrey Wadsworth, 1985, "Damascus Steel", Scientific American, 252(2) p. 112 -120

Ready to own a blade that combines modern craftsmanship with historical soul? Head over to NIMOFAN Katana and build your own folded steel katana — forged with respect, not factory molds.