DAMASCUS BLADES

are swords or scymitars, presenting upon their surface a variegated appearance of watering , as white, silvery, or black veins, in fine lines, or fillets; fibrous, cro ed, interlaced or parallel, . They are brought from the East, being fabricated chiefly at Damascus, whence their name. Their excellent quality has become proverbial; for which reason these blades are much sought after by military men, and are high priced. The oriental proce es have never been satisfactorily described; but of late years methods have been devised in Europe to imitate the fabric very well. Clouet and Hachette pointed out the three following proce es for producing Damascus blades: 1, that of parallel fillets ; 2, that by torsion ; 3, the mosaic . The first, which is still pursued by some French cutlers, consists in scooping out with a graving tool the faces of a piece of stuff composed of thin plates of different kinds of steel. These hollows are by a subsequent operation filled up, and brought to a level with the external faces, upon which they subsequently form tre -like figures. 2. The method of torsion, which is more generally employed at present, consists in forming a bundle of rods or slips of steel, which are welded together into a well-wrought bar, twisted several times round its axis. It is repeatedly forged, and twisted alternately; after which it is slit in the line of its axis, and the two halves are welded with their outsides in contact; by which means their faces will exhibit very various configurations. 3. The mosaic method consists in preparing a bar, as by the torsion plan, and cutting this bar into short pieces of nearly equal length, with which a faggot is formed and welded together; taking care to preserve the sections of each piece at the surface of the blade. In this way, all the variety of the design is displayed, corresponding to each fragment of the cut bar. The blades of Clouet, independently of their excellent quality, their flexibility, and extreme elasticity, have this advantage over the oriental blades, that they exhibit in the very substance of the metal, designs, letters, inscriptions, and, generally speaking, all kinds of figures which had been delineated beforehand. Notwithstanding these succe ful results of Clouet, it was pretty clear that the watered designs of the true Damascus scymitar were e entially different. M. Bréant has at last completely solved this problem. He has demonstrated that the substance of the oriental blades is a cast-steel more highly charged with carbon than our European steels, and in which, by means of a cooling suitably conducted, a crystallization takes place of two distinct combinations of carbon and iron. This separation is the e ential condition; for if the melted steel be suddenly cooled in a small crucible or ingot, there is no damascene appearance. If an exce of carbon be mixed with iron, the whole of the metal will be converted into steel; and the residuary carbon will combine in a new proportion with a portion of the steel so formed. There will be two distinct compounds; namely, pure steel, and carburetted steel or cast-iron. These at first being imperfectly mixed will tend to separate, if while still fluid they be left in a state of repose; and form a crystallization in which the particles of the two compounds will place themselves in the crucible in an order determined by their affinity and density conjoined. If a blade forged out of steel so prepared be immersed in acidulous water, it will display a very distinct damascus appearance; the portions of pure steel becoming black, and those of carburetted steel remaining white, because the acids with difficulty disengage its carbon. The slower such a compound is cooled, the larger the damascus veins will be. Travernier relates that the steel crucible ingots, like those of wootz, for making the true oriental damascus, come from Golconda, that they are of the size of a halfpenny roll, and when cut in two, form two swords. Steel combined with manganese forges easily, but it is brittle when cold; it displays however the damascus appearance very strongly. A mixture of 100 parts of soft iron, and 2 of lamp black, melts as readily as ordinary steel. Several of the best blades which M. Bréant presented to the Société d’Encouragement are the product of this combination. This is an easy way of making cast-steel without previous cementation of the iron. 100 parts of filings of very gray cast-iron, and 100 parts of like filings previously oxidized, produced, by their fusion together, a beautiful damascene steel, fit for forging into white arms, sabres, swords, . This compound is remarkable for its elasticity, an e ential quality, not po e ed by the old Indian steel. The greater the proportion of the oxidized cast iron, the tougher is the steel. Care should be taken to stir the materials during their fusion, before it is allowed to cool; otherwise they will not afford a homogeneous damasc. If the steel contains much carbon it is difficult to forge, and cannot be drawn out except within a narrow range of temperature. When heated to a red-white it crumbles under the hammer; at a cherry-red it becomes hard and brittle; and as it progre ively cools it becomes still more unmalleable. It resembles completely Indian steel, which European blacksmiths cannot forge, because they are ignorant of the suitable temperature for working it. M. Bréant, by studying this point, succeeded in forging fine blades. Experience has proved that the orbicular veins, called by the workmen knots or thorns ( ronces ), which are seen upon the finest Eastern scymitars, are the result of the manner of forging them, as well as the method of twisting the Damascus bars. If these be drawn in length, the veins will be longitudinal; if they be spread equally in all directions, the stuff will have a crystalline aspect; if they be made wavy in the two directions, undulated veins will be produced like those in the oriental damascus. DAMASK is a variegated textile fabric, richly ornamented with figures of flowers, fruits, landscapes, animals, ., woven in the loom, and is by far the most rich, elegant, and expensive species of ornamental weaving, tapestry alone excepted. The name is said to be derived from Damascus, where it was anciently made. Damask belongs to that species of texture which is distinguished by practical men by the name of tweeling, of which it is the richest pattern. The tweel of damask is usually half that of full satin , and consequently consists of eight leaves moved either in regular succe ion or by regular intervals, eight leaves being the smallest number which will admit of alternate tweeling at equal intervals. In the article Carpet , two representations have been given of the damask draw-loom. The generic difference of tweeling, when compared with common cloth, consists in the intersections, although uniform and equidistant, being at determinate intervals, and not between the alternate threads. Hence we have specimens of tweeled cloth, where the intersections take place at the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, or sixteenth interval only. The threads thus deflecting only from a straight line at intervals, preserve more of their original direction, and a much greater quantity of materials can be combined in an equal space, than in the alternate intersection, where the tortuous deflection, at every interval, keeps them more asunder. On this principle tweeled cloths of three and four leaves are woven for facility of combination alone. The coarser species of ornamented cloths, known by the names of dornock and diaper, usually intersect at the fifth, or half satin interval. The sixth and seventh are rarely used, and the intersection at the eighth is distinguished by the name of satin in common, and of damask in ornamental tweeling. It will further be very obvious, that where the warp and woof cro only at every eighth interval, the two sides of the cloth will present a diversity of appearance; for on one side the longitudinal or warp threads will run parallel from one end of a web to the other, and, on the other, the threads of woof will run also parallel, but in a transverse direction acro the cloth, or at right angles to the former. The points of intersection being only at every eighth interval, appear only like points; and in regular tweeling these form the appearance of diagonal lines, inclined at an angle of 45° (or nearly so) to each of the former. The appearance, therefore, of a piece of common tweeled cloth is very similar to that of two thin boards glued together, with the grain of the upper piece at right angles to that of the under one. That of an ornamental piece of damask may, in the same manner, be very properly a imilated to a piece of veneering, where all the wood is of the same substance and colour, and where the figures a ume a diversity of appearance from the ground, merely by the grain of the one being disposed perpendicularly to that of the other. See Textile Fabric . From this statement of the principle, it results that the most unlimited variety of figures will be produced, by constructing a loom by which every individual thread of warp may be placed either above or below the woof at every intersection; and to effect this, in boundle variety, is the object of the Jacquard mounting; which see. The chief seat of this manufacture is probably the town and neighbourhood of Dun ferm line, in Fifes hire, and Lisburn and Ardoyne, near Belfast, where it is considered as the staple, having proved a very profitable branch of traffic to the manufacturer, and given employment to many industrious people. The material used there is chiefly linen; but many have been recently woven of cotton, since the introduction of that article into the manufacture of cloth has become so prevalent. The cotton damasks are considerably cheaper than those of linen; but are not considered either so elegant or durable. The cotton, also, unle frequently bleached, does not preserve the purity of the white colour nearly so well as the linen. DAMASKEENING; the art of ornamenting iron, steel, ., by making incisions upon its surface, and filling them up with gold or silver wire; chiefly used in enriching sword blades, guards, and gripes, locks of pistols, . Its name shows the place of its origin, or, at least, the place where it has been practised in the greatest perfection; viz. the city of Damascus, in Syria; though M. Felibien attributes the perfection of the art to his countryman, Cursinet, who wrought under the reign of Henry IV. Damaskeening is partly mosaic work, partly engraving, and partly carving. As mosaic work, it consists of pieces inlaid; as engraving, the metal is indented, or cut in intaglio; and as carving, gold and silver are wrought into it in relievo . There are two ways of damaskeening; in the first, which is the most beautiful, the artists cut into the metal with a graver, and other tools proper for engraving upon steel, and afterwards fill up the incisions, or notches, with a pretty thick silver or gold wire. In the other, which is only superficial, they content themselves to make hatches, or strokes acro the iron, . with a cutting knife, such as is used in making of small files. As to the first, it is nece ary for the gravings or incisions to be made in the dove-tail form; that the gold or silver wire, which is thrust forcibly into them, may adhere the more strongly. As to the second, which is the more usual, the method is this:—Having heated the steel till it changes to a violet, or blue colour, they hatch it over and acro with the knife; then draw the ensign or ornament intended, upon this hatching, with a fine bra point or bodkin. This done, they take fine gold wire, and conducting or chasing it according to the figures already designed, they sink it carefully into the hatches of the metal with a copper tool. DAMASSIN is a kind of damask, with gold and silver flowers, woven in the warp and woof; or occasionally with silk organzine.