A popular saying in modern times: the truth is within the range of the cannon! If you extend it to ancient times, you can say: First ask if my blade is not sharp! These famous ancient knife-making crafts have created countless divine blades, bringing a sense of security and pride to the peoples to which they belong, each leading the way for hundreds of thousands of years! Nowadays, many crafts have been lost, and they can only be excavated and restored little by little by relying on the cultural relics and historical materials that have been handed down.
Craftsman workshop Damascus knife
Uzi Steel
The famous Damascus knife of ancient times was made of Uzi steel ingots, and its outstanding feature is that the surface is covered with a brilliant pattern like a star. For a long time, the unique smelting method of Uzi steel and the forging method of Damascus knives were the technical secrets of the Persians and were not known to the outside world. The Damascus knife is represented by Iran. Ancient Iranian weapons are very famous, and the royal families of ancient India, Mongolia, Turkey and the Eastern countries all hired Persian craftsmen to create weapons. Uzi steel was introduced to China around the 4th century AD, and in 368 AD the Xianbei people established the Northern Wei Dynasty, when Persia was in the Sassanid Dynasty, and Uzi steel was transported to China along the Silk Road, known as pickaxe iron.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, iron was more common in the Central Plains, and many poems praised the beautiful pattern and excellent performance of iron. The Liao state was proud to be able to produce iron, and the name of the country was "Liao", which is the meaning of the Khitan language for iron. The Liao people often gave iron knives as gifts in their foreign relations. After the rise of the Mongol Empire, it destroyed the Liaojin and launched three western expeditions that made the world tremble, destroying countless countries along the way. In 1260, Hulagu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, attacked Damascus, Syria. The Mongol armies plundered a large number of Damascus swordsmen in the Western Expedition, making the Yuan Dynasty's iron-making technology reach the highest in the world. According to the "History of the Yuan", the Ministry of Works of the Yuan Dynasty government set up a pickaxe iron bureau, which was subordinate to the Department of Craftsman Lifting of Various Colors, which was specially responsible for smelting and forging iron swords and utensils.
The ancient Chinese records of the iron began in the Weishu Xiyu, the Zhoushu Exotic Xiaxia, and the Sui Shu Xiyu, all of which recorded that the iron was from Persia. The Tang Dynasty Huilin's "All Sutra Transliterations and Susidhu Sutra" records that iron was produced in Gaobin (the name of the ancient country, present-day Kashmir), "with the harmony of iron, or extremely refined, and the iron above is also". The Ming Dynasty Cao Zhao's "Treatise on The Essentials of Grid Objects" recorded in detail the characteristics of iron: "The iron of the iron is out of the western domain, and there are spiral patterns on it, and there are sesame snowflakes." Where the sword is polished clean, and the alum is alumed with gold wire, its flowers are seen, and the value is too silver... The ancient saying that iron is stronger than gold, and the counterfeiter is a black flower, which should be carefully identified. There was once a pair of iron scissors, which were very cleverly made, with gold plating on the outside and back inlaid with zigzags on the inside. ”
Folding forging
Damascus knives are divided into two types: cast and forged. The iron (Uzi steel) is forged directly and made into a sword, which is called a cast Damascus knife. Uzi steel is extremely hard, poor plasticity, and insufficient elasticity. In order to improve the elasticity of the sword, craftsmen often use Uzi steel as a substrate, fold it and fold it with wrought iron, and the knife created in this way is called a forged Damascus knife.
Folding forging is a sword process that is more ancient than iron, it originated in the late Bronze Age, the basic principle is to stack the hardness of the material and the material with the lower hardness together, heated to the degree of softness, repeated folding and forging, so as to forge a sword material with good hardness and elasticity. The most exquisite swords in ancient times were made of Uzi steel or meteoric iron as a substrate, folded and forged together with wrought iron. Using Uzi steel as a raw material was a Persian Damascus knife. Forged with meteoric iron as a substrate, the Malay Kris sword was forged. The autocratic folding forging is a flat broken forged composite dark light pattern blade, which is also a classic Japanese samurai sword.
Rough surface welding
The Dutch, armed with thermal weapons, invaded Java and saw the power of the Malay Kris sword as they engaged the local Malays. The barrels of dutch soldiers' muskets were often severed by the sword of the Malay Kris! The sharp tip of the sword only needs a gentle push to pierce the thick clothes and pierce the human body. Even more frightening is that the Malays, accustomed to jungle life, have a habit of feeding poison on the blade of a sword, which can endanger their lives once they cut through the skin. After the war, many Dutch soldiers snatched the Malay Kris sword everywhere, and many of its treasures now lie in museums in Europe.
Prince Dio Negoro of Java
Malay Kris Sword
The Malay Kris sword is a typical rough-faced welded patterned blade. The main substrate of the early Malay Kris sword was meteoric iron rather than artificially smelted iron. The Malay Islands lack iron ore, so they have been using meteorite for much longer than in other regions. Ancient commoners who picked up meteoric iron had to be handed over to the royal family. Craftsmen are not allowed to have iron, and when they build swords, they must ask the royal family for purchase, and only after obtaining permission can they start the furnace. Kris is the meaning of "many craftsmen cooperate", the production of a rough-faced welded Malay Kris sword requires the cooperation of blacksmiths, handle makers, sheath makers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, coppersmiths, painters, and material smiths, so it is called kris sword. Among all kinds of craftsmen, the blacksmith has the highest status, and the Malays respect the blacksmith as "Amp", enjoying many privileges. Amp's title can be passed on from father to son, and the technology is not passed on. Some Amps even received the honor of being buried with the royal family after their deaths, and some of amp's names and family lineages are recorded in recent Javanese celebrity biographies.
The scene of the Kris sword casting the sword
Before forging the sword of Kris, a ritual of prayer is held to drive away evil spirits and greet the gods. A Kris sword is forged from 3 ordinary steel billets and 2 pieces of meteoric iron folding, and the forging methods and layers are various. The Kris sword, forged for the nobility and royal family, usually had to be forged into 600 layers, requiring more than 500 fires and more than 30 days. After forging and quenching, the pattern is also processed and colored. It is generally boiled with arsenic water, lemonade, sulfide solution, salt water, rice soup, etc., to form different colors of patterns. It is then dug, repaired, carved and carved to make a trench. Set with gold and silver gemstones as decoration. Once made, the sword body is coated with a special ointment. From the perspective of modern science, the Malay Kris sword is a welded pattern blade, which existed in ancient West Asia, Europe, and China, but meteoric iron is not used as a raw material in the region. The Leiden Museum in the Netherlands houses a collection of five or six thousand marais swords that have been looted, but it is difficult to see the real appearance of the Malay Kris swords in today's Malay Archipelago. (In addition to some historical pictures, the others are hand-folded and forged Damascus knives by the craftsman workshop.) ）