#ipostswords

Why the Ottoman Pala is the Ultimate Slashing Sword

Today we're going to be looking at a variant of the venerable ottoman kilij. this is a turkish pala, from around 1780. The pala was a specific subclass of kilij, and is an infantry weapon designed for performing draw cuts. 

Fake Antique, Destructive Restoration

Sebastian of ipostswords shares his favorite swords from his collection.

Number 5 is a French Model 1882 Infantry Officers sword, in presentation grade, dated to precisely 17th July, 1896. It has an etched blade and an engraved guard made of "German Silver". 

Number 4 is a Zeybek Efe's Yataghan, a short infantry sword for the Chief of an Ottoman Turkish Militia. It has a Turkish Ribbon Twist blade, inscribed with the Names of the Seven Sleepers. 

Number 3 is a Turkish Pala, a type of infantry kilij. Mine has a Turkish Twist blade, featuring an elaborate multi-bar pattern. 

Number 2 is a rare and unusual European Colichemarde smallsword, which is extremely broad in the blade, and features the rare combination of a triangular blade profile, and sharp edges. 

A Clip-Point Light Cavalry Officers Sabre, 1810-1820 (Preview)

A preview of a sword I've not featured before. A European cavalry sabre based on the 1796 British light cavalry sabre. This example features a gilt and blued blade, and a very prominent clipped point. The blade is certainly long enough for cavalry use, but is rather narrow compared to contemporary troopers swords - a common feature of officers swords.

Wootz "Damascus Steel": History, Metallurgy, Production

This is going to be a rather long, and in depth video on wootz steel, it’s history, metallurgy, and production. For the most part, it is based upon excellent academic work by Ann Feuerbach and metallurgical experimentation by John Verhoeven. 

Historically (prior to the 18th century), "Damascus Steel" also referred to wootz, or crucible steel, which was produced all over South East and Central Asia and the middle east. In order to differentiate between the two forms of “Damascus”, I will be using the nomenclature of pattern welded steel, and wootz steel. 

Also known as pulad, fulad or bulat, wootz is an ancient crucible steel, which was produced from as early as the first century, CE. It is typified by being high in carbon content, usually between 1 and 2 percent and a low slag content. 

Metallurgical identification of wootz steel is problematic, as no single criteria can be used to differentiate between crucible steel, and decarburised wrought iron. In order to confidently say whether a sword is crucible steel or not, the blade must be polished and then etched in nital, and examined via low magnification microscopy. The presense of spheroidised cementite is considered evidence of a crucible produced steel. 

Wootz can occur in two different forms according to Ann Feuerbach, soft wootz with less than 0.8% carbon, and hard wootz with greater than 0.8%. The vast majority of pattern presenting wootz and historical wootz is hard wootz, whereas the majority of crucible steel that produces no pattern is soft wootz. 

The names Pulad and Fulad derive their meaning from the words for Purified, and fittingly Wootz also typically contains lower levels of slag than other steels, such as bloomery iron or decarburised wrought iron, however if the wootz was made using one of these as a source of iron, this can introduce slag into the final product. 

For the most part, the clay crucible would be filled with a charge. This crucible charge would contain iron, often a mix of “soft and hard iron”, referred to by Al Kindi as male and female iron, as well as some form of plant matter such as rice husks, pomegranate peels, wood chips, leaves or vines. These served two purposes: Firstly, to provide carbon to the steel, without which it would not melt and would not produce useable steel, and secondly to produce gasses as they pyrolise, protecting the steel from the atmosphere of the furnace. Some processed such as the Deccani process utilised in Hyderabad used glass as a protective flux. 

The crucible was heated for anywhere between 6 hours (as in the south Indian process) to two days, as in the Deccani process, or as much as 6 days in the Isfahan process. The resulting wootz button or egg was then polished in order to check the quality of the wootz. 

In the Isfahan process, the wootz ingots were taken from their crucibles after firing, and placed in a heated room or compartment for two days, to temper them and relieve stresses prior to forging. 

Isfahan wootz is particularly well known, as is Khorasani steel. The most famous of persian swordmakers hailed from Isfahan, Assad Allah, during the reign of Shah Abbas. There is an interesting legend as to how he rose to such prominence. According to this legend, Shah Abbas held a competition with the intention of finding a new shamshiraz, or swordmaker for his court. In order to root out the best of the best, he offered a prize for a swordsmith who could cut an iron helmet given to him by an ottoman sultan, without damaging their sword. All failed, but one. Assad Allah, whose name literally translates to Lion of God, approached the helmet, swung, and cleaved it in two, without rolling an edge. 

The secret to producing wootz steel was lost for a long time, as the ore sourced dried up around 1750, and wootz production ground to a halt. Crucible steel was still being made, but it lacked the distinct patterns in the steel, which had served as a guarantee of quality. It was only recently through the combined efforts of John Verhoeven and the late Al Pendray that it was revealed that trace amounts of carbide forming elements are responsible for the formation of wootz patterns. In particular, the pair discovered that vanadium was a vital alloying element in pattern formation.

Antique sword restoration: Etching an Ottoman "Damascus steel" Pala

In this video, we take my neglected and repolished antique Ottoman Pala, and etch it to restore it to its former glory. The Pala is a form of Turkish Sabre, or Kilij, designed for use by infantry. It feature a "T" shaped pipeback spine. This example is made of "turkish ribbon twist" pattern welded "damascus" steel. 

I decided to use oxalic acid for this procedure, as it is a gentle acid with a long working time. I think it came out pretty well. 

This style of sabre has a very, thin, fine edge, making it an exceptionally good slicing or slashing sword. The heavy curve further emphasises this. The thick (10mm) spine prevents you from chopping deeply with a typical cutting motion, requiring you to "draw cut", pulling the blade along your opponents flesh and rending it apart. 

This style first appeared around 1750-1770, and this example is from around 1780-1790. It is Turkish / Ottoman, and feels amazing to handle. Whilst the point of balance is something like 18cm away from the guard, it just floats when you hold it. 

Why an Obsolete Sword Design from 1845 was Reintroduced in 1915