At a glance
- Wootz was made by melting iron with carbon-rich material in small sealed clay crucibles.
- It is a single steel; the pattern comes from bands of hard carbides inside it.
- It typically holds about 1–2% carbon, far more than modern knife steels.
- The process died out, and was reconstructed by modern researchers in the 1990s.
What is wootz steel?
Wootz is a steel made in small clay crucibles. Iron was sealed in with carbon-rich material such as wood or leaves, or cast and wrought iron were melted together, and the crucibles were fired for many hours and cooled slowly. The result was a small cake of very high-carbon steel, about 1–2% carbon.
Traded west from India, wootz cakes were forged into the famous "Damascus" sword blades of the medieval Middle East. Evidence from sites in Tamil Nadu suggests the crucible process may have begun before the Christian era.
Where does the pattern come from?
Unlike modern Damascus steel, which is made by welding layers of different steels, wootz is a single steel. Its pattern comes from bands of hard iron carbide that form as it solidifies and are drawn out into flowing lines when the steel is forged at a carefully controlled, fairly low heat. Etching darkens the softer steel between the carbide bands and reveals the pattern, often described as "watered" silk.
Research in the 1990s by John Verhoeven and the smith Al Pendray showed that tiny amounts of impurities, especially vanadium, helped the carbides line up in bands. Without them, the pattern didn't form.
Why was wootz so famous?
Wootz blades combined a hard, high-carbon steel with a tough body and a beautiful pattern at a time when most steel was uneven. European smiths who tried to forge it at the usual white heat found it crumbled: the high carbon content needs forging at a much lower temperature. That added to its reputation as a near-magical material.
Why was wootz lost?
Production in India declined during the 18th and 19th centuries, and with it the specialist knowledge of how to make and forge the steel. By the 19th century, European metallurgists were studying wootz without being able to reproduce its patterns reliably.
Wootz today
Modern researchers and a handful of smiths now make wootz again, using crucibles in gas furnaces. It remains a specialist craft. Most knives sold as "Damascus" today are pattern-welded, not wootz.
Questions people ask
Is wootz the same as Damascus steel?
Wootz is the steel that historic Damascus blades were made from. Modern "Damascus" is usually pattern-welded steel, which is a different process.
How was wootz steel made?
Iron and carbon-rich material were sealed in clay crucibles and fired at very high temperature for many hours, then cooled slowly to give a cake of high-carbon steel.
Can wootz still be made?
Yes. Researchers and specialist smiths make wootz today, but it is rare and difficult compared with pattern welding.
What does wootz mean?
It is an English form of ukku, the word for steel in languages of south India such as Kannada and Telugu.
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Related pages
Sources
- Srinivasan, S. and Ranganathan, S. "Wootz steel: an advanced material of the ancient world". Indian Institute of Science
- Verhoeven, J.D., Pendray, A.H. and Dauksch, W.E. (1998) "The key role of impurities in ancient Damascus steel blades", JOM 50(9)
- Reibold, M. et al. (2006) "Carbon nanotubes in an ancient Damascus sabre", Nature 444, 286