It’s called wootz steel, from a word for steel in South India – ekku. Now, however, clues have been emerging, and one of the keys is the source of the steel – which came from India.
A sword of Damascus steel was said to be so sharp that it could cut through a gauze kerchief – or a steel helmet – and so flexible that it could bend through 90 degrees without breaking.īut the last of them was made around two centuries ago, and no one could work out the secret of their manufacture – even with samples available to study. The mystery of a legendary type of sword is gradually being unlocked by scientists and smiths.
