I might be wrong but no steel is wootz with out vanadium enriched iron ores. Bloomery to crucible. Do wonder if it was thanks youtube... Fa÷\×ggited or folded. 😉

Good question! I am not sure the definitions are defined like that. The term wootz is a crucible steel but I think any steel produced that way would have been called wootz back in the day. Its the modern folks and the desire to have a name for every variation and the mixing of terms across culture, period and form that gets it all jumbled. The wootz blades of the past had the etched finish and sometimes this was patterned mechanically. But a blade could be made from wootz and not etched and would still be wootz. You can even see the pattern if polished and in bright sunlight in some cases.

@@theoakeshottinstitute4081 It is my belief that the modern nomenclature isn't what it used to be. I am not sure when wootz was starting to get associated with visible pattern. Using a plethora of academic resources, I figure wootz steel is a geographically associated crucible steel (South India and Ceylon) which was made by the steel carburizing method, using wrought iron and plant matter charge, as opposed to co-fusion method from Central Asia (Merv). My observation is also that the tern is used solely for warfare arena- armour and weapons, but ordinary household tools, such as scissors, nails, etc. are never referenced as wootz. I figure you might take the Parmigiano Reggiano parmesan cheese as an example. Make that type of cheese outside its region, with differently sourced ingredients and it is not parmesan anymore. The certificate for the latter could never be obtained. But is there a way to tell if any given weapon, regardless of the hilt and blade style provenance, is from South Indian subcontinent or from Central Asia? Is there a way to distinguish and provenance the 'damascus' weapons which were exported to Damascus for forging, and further export, in an analytical way? Isotopes? Chemical composition? How do you gentlemen do it?

@@emel60 Deep question, the studies on the material have looking at some of these questions but as of now I do not think there is a "Test " result they are looking for to identify origin. That being said a holistic approach looking at all the factors of a piece including any evidence on the material itself is the best way to discern origin or at least where the item was made. Also research into trade routes and supply. As with so many aspects f the trade in material and arms production not a great deal has been codified on such a level, but I do know there are people working on different aspects of these things. I would say we are just passing into the second generation of folks doing deep research on these things and we will see more information to help with much of our understanding of this in both the east and the west in the next few decades.

The question that you ask is less than straight forward to answer. The term Wootz came from the term Uts or Utsa in Tamil, Hindi or Marathi around the Bombay area of India during the 1790s. It was used to refer to water patterned steel (it means fountain, spring, water source) specifically but in the other languages in the region it was known as Ukku which meant to melt or Urukku which means Steel. The words in that region were specific to melted / crucible steel, and Wootz / Uts was only one of the names used. In Marathi and in Northern India it was called Polada. Not all wootz had a well identified pattern as some in southern India was solidified quickly but it was still called the same names that the watered steel was. But watered crucible steel was made from Egypt up to Turkey and across to Mongolia. These were called by the name Bulat, Fulad, Polad, Bolat etc. all from the same basic root word which simply means "Steel". There was crucible steel which had no pattern and others with many different patterns depending on the ingredients and how it was forged. All these steels today fall under the blanket terms of Fulad, Bulat, Wootz. It is all talking about the same material but in the languages of the peoples who made them. Now these only apply to steel which is melted and solidified in the crucible, not steel which is poured into a crucible and then solidified. There were many different recipes of this steel and things like chromium, copper, manganese and silver etc. were added deliberately to the melts in different areas with different results. I hope that clarifies your question. I am a wootz smith and researcher of 20 years experience and a co-founder and president of the International Wootz Society ( internationalwootzsociety.com ). Cheers, Tim.

You may find this interesting. The Secrets of Wootz Damascus Steel kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hbZog6acyKi-hWg.html

There are some varieties and slightly different approaches to the manufacture. The Video posted by KJAkk is pretty good as Al knows his stuff in ways few others do today. It is probably a bit of marketing that the secret was lost. It never stopped in certain areas it was just off the grid as it were to the knowledge base of the west. Historically there were large areas of production using these methodologies from the mid East thru Central Asia all the way to the Island cultures of Southeast Asia.

@@theoakeshottinstitute4081 Craig, you are totally correct, the method of making wootz was never lost and there has been an uninterrupted line of smiths who have continued the craft to the modern day. The people making it in India are marginalized there and most Indians are not even aware of their existence. The production of wootz definitely declined heavily from the mid 1800s due to the export ban, deforestation, famine, competition and a few other factors, but it still continued inside India. What has changed is that those in the west who have been making this steel such as my former mentor Al Pendray, have been able to work out what is happening in the steel to create different traditional patterns and we have in effect brought the craft back out of obscurity. By the way it is awesome that you were able to handle an original ingot from the Konasamudram cache! They are a little bit different than the ones we make today.

I was under the impression that Indian smiths used the same techniques for years afterwards but did not have access to the original ore with Vandium in it . I was told Toledo steel used a similar technique ( the furnace didn't make use of monsoon winds but rather a bellows) again, not with the original steel and it took a few centuries to explain the science behind the old technology . Either way those Indian guys were killing it back in the day. From math to steel to architecture to chess, western cultures owe a huge cultural debt to India. All of the stuff we learned from the Arabs, the Arabs learned from the Indians

@@seanfaherty There were many different techniques used to make crucible steel in different areas in India and around that part of the world not just one. The idea that it died out due to there being an "original ore with vanadium" that ran out originated with John Verhoeven and it was only a thought that he threw out there with no historical foundation at all. It is a modern myth. The toledo steel was a pattern welded damascus type method with forge welding higher carbon steel with lower carbon steel. I am unaware that they used a crucible steel as their higher carbon steel source.

A person sharing valuable knowledge deserves at least a like. Thank you good gentle person

though wootz was from India