Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Secret's Out For Saracens Sabres (Damascus Steel)
New Scientist ^ | 11-15-2006

Posted on 11/15/2006 11:04:58 AM PST by blam

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-110 next last

1 posted on 11/15/2006 11:05:06 AM PST by blam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: blam

Nanotechnology? From Satan, no doubt..............


2 posted on 11/15/2006 11:06:27 AM PST by Red Badger (New! HeadOn Hemorrhoid Medication for Liberals!.........Apply directly to forehead.........)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blam

Yet another example that you don't have to know about or understand a technology to use it.


3 posted on 11/15/2006 11:07:57 AM PST by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Just another Joe

They couldn't do it today.


4 posted on 11/15/2006 11:11:09 AM PST by steveyp
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: steveyp
They couldn't do it today.

Sure they could. All they gotta do is make it the same way.

5 posted on 11/15/2006 11:12:48 AM PST by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: blam

What "amazing mechanical properties" do the swords possess?


6 posted on 11/15/2006 11:16:39 AM PST by secretagent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blam

Neat article!


7 posted on 11/15/2006 11:17:45 AM PST by somniferum (Annoy a liberal.. Work hard and be happy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: secretagent
Hard and flexible. They keep a razor sharp edge, but don't shatter under impact.
8 posted on 11/15/2006 11:19:36 AM PST by null and void ("Jihad" just means "[My] Struggle", but then again, so does "Mein Kampf"...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: blam

Space aliens taught them how to make the blades.


9 posted on 11/15/2006 11:26:28 AM PST by mikeandike
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: secretagent

The steel is very hard and takes a fine edge without being brittle.


10 posted on 11/15/2006 11:26:45 AM PST by dangerdoc (dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: blam

The samurii sword was manufactured using the heat, fold and hammer technique. The steel's crystalline structure was lined up with each folding and hammering technique so that a strong blade with a fine edge made for a wowser weapon, (pardon the high tech talk).


11 posted on 11/15/2006 11:30:34 AM PST by Young Werther
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Just another Joe

a lot of people used gravity before newton got hit on the head by that apple.


12 posted on 11/15/2006 11:31:44 AM PST by camle (keep your mind open and somebody will fill it full of something for you)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: secretagent

Iron by itself is hard, but brittle, and weapons made from it can shatter easily, which is not a good thing.

Steel, which is iron mixed with other materials, is just as hard, but is flexible and not so easy to shatter. Problem is getting the mix and pattern right, because poorly made steel weapons have breakage problems as well.

Damascus steel for its time was exceptionally good material to make weapons from and weaponry made from it tended not to break. This may not be remarkable today, but for its time that was amazing.


13 posted on 11/15/2006 11:32:51 AM PST by ExpandNATO
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: camle
a lot of people used gravity before newton got hit on the head by that apple.

Yes, but it seems I'm still the only one using the antigravity device and I STILL don't know how it works. ;^)

14 posted on 11/15/2006 11:38:02 AM PST by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Just another Joe

no you're not - whenever I think of my lady, I walk on air!;-)


15 posted on 11/15/2006 11:43:40 AM PST by camle (keep your mind open and somebody will fill it full of something for you)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Just another Joe

I mean the Muslims and Syria in particular aren't that industrial or creative. They lucked into it before and wouldn't understand it now.


16 posted on 11/15/2006 11:53:08 AM PST by steveyp
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: steveyp
They lucked into it before and wouldn't understand it now.

They didn't understand it then. All they did was know that if you did such and such when making the steel it came out better. They didn't know why it came out better, they just knew it did.
Sure, they lucked into it but many technological breakthroughs are lucked into. Not many are actually the result of folks saying, "This could be done.", and then putting in the sweat and research to find a way to do it.

17 posted on 11/15/2006 11:58:17 AM PST by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: null and void; dangerdoc; ExpandNATO

Thanks all.


18 posted on 11/15/2006 12:05:49 PM PST by secretagent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: blam

Always heard that these swords were pretty much "state of the art" at the time. Of course, the debate now is more like M-16 vs. AK47, but a consideration of the comparative political resolve and social cohesiveness is no less significant now than it was then - and I sometimes wonder about that one, frankly.


19 posted on 11/15/2006 12:26:46 PM PST by Jack Hammer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: steveyp; Just another Joe
I mean the Muslims and Syria in particular aren't that industrial or creative. They lucked into it before and wouldn't understand it now.

Oh, come on.  They at least have 17th century technology and techniques and that's all we're talking about here.  They actually have 21st century technology available to them under the right circumstances, much of it gained in the universities of Europe and the US.  The folks in Pakistan are no more advanced than those in Syria, yet they have built and tested functioning nukes.

"... What is the work of genius the first time is the work of a tinsmith soon thereafter. It required genius the first time because it was the first time, and also because technology was so primitive. All the calculations had to be done manually at first, on big mechanical calculators. All the work on the first hydrogen bomb was done on the first primitive computers - Eniac, I think it was called. But today?" Ghosn laughed. It really was absurd. "A videogame has more computing power than Eniac ever did. I can run the calculations on a high-end personal computer in seconds and duplicate what took Einstein months. But the most important thing is that they did not really know if it was possible. It is, and I know that! Next, they made records of how they proceeded. Finally, I have a template, and though I cannot reverse-engineer it entirely, I can use this as a theoretical model..."

Damascus steel isn't something they invented.  Like almost everything else in the Arab / Persian  / Muslim world it came from someplace else by way of trade.  Notice the article mentions that the swords were made from steel from India, called "wootz."  Carbon nanotubes are a variation of carbon spheres, or Carbon 60, popularly known as Buckminsterfullerene or "Buckballs," was accidentally discovered and occurs naturally in candle soot.  It's a naturally occuring form of carbon, just one we didn't know about until very recently.  Our own engineers stumbled across the nanotube and "wire" variants through largely random trial and error.  It's not surprising that it has cropped up in materials like this.

Returning to the idea that they "aren't that industrial or creative," there are Afghan gunsmiths working in the backwater tribal areas who can fabricate, from scratch, a viable replica of an AK-47.  We must not make the mistake of underestimating people because they happen to be bloodthirsty psychos or don't own a car.  That makes us more vulnerable to them.  They have every resource that any other human living today has availble, just a lot less inhibition about using it.

20 posted on 11/15/2006 12:56:18 PM PST by Phsstpok (Often wrong, but never in doubt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-110 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson