The process of manufacturing swords at Birmingham is as follows : —The material of which the blade is wrought should be cast-steel of the very best quality, and wrought with the greatest care. The bars are heated in the fire, and drawn out upon an anvil by two workmen with hammers, giving alternate strokes. When the blade is required to be concave upon the sides, or to have a reeded back, or Borne similar ornament, it is hanirnered between steel bosses or swages. The blade is then hardened by heating it in the fire until it becomes worm-red, and dipping it, point downwards, in a tub of cold water. It is tempered by drawing it through the fire several times until the surface exhibits a bluish oxidation, which takes place at a temperature of about 550° Fahr. The sword is then set to the required shape by placing it on a sort of fork upon the anvil, ' and wrenching it by means of tulip; in the direction required to cor rect any degree of warping which it may have contracted during the hardening. The grinding is performed upon a stone with either a fiat or fluted surface, according to the kind of blade ; and as the uniformity of the temper is impaired by this process, it is subsequently restored by a slight heating, after which the blade is glazed with emery, and, if the instrument be a fine one, with crocus martis, after the manner of a razor-blade. The sword is then ready for the hilt or handle. Among the testa to which sword-blades are subjected, is that of bending them into a curve by pressing the side of the blade against six or eight pegs driven into a board, in such a manner that, when in contact with all the pegs, the middle of the blade may be bent six or seven inches from a straight line drawn between the point and the hilt. A further test is applied by bending them from a vertical pillar rising from a board. The temper is also proved by striking the blade smartly upon a table on both sides, and by severe strokes with the back and edge upon a block. Mr. Inglis, in Spain in 1S30,' describes the trials to which sword-blades are subjected at the celebrated manufactory of Toledo. Each sword is thrust against a plate in the wall, and so bent into an arc forming at least three parts of a circle; and then struck edgeways upon a leaden table with all the force which can be given by a powerful man holding it with both hands.
The British cavalry, within a recent period, have been supplied with swords superior in quality to those before in use, slightly different in shape, and lighter in weight.
Many plans have been tried for imitating the peculiar waved appear ance of Dantriacus blades, which is commonly called damasking. The Oriental processes have never been aatisfatorily described, although several methods have been devised in Europe for imitating the Eastern fabrics. MM. Clouet and Hachette have pointed out three methods of attaining the desired object. 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 steel of different kinds ; and by a subsequent operation filling up the hollows, and bringing them to a level with the external faces, upon which they form a figured appearance. The second is called the method of torsion, and is more
generally employed. It centrists in forming a bundle of strips of steel, which are welded together Into a bar, and twisted several times about its axis. It is repeatedly forged and twisted alternately ; after which it is slit longitudinally, and the two halves are welded with their outer sides together. The surfaces of such a bar have a curious or watered appearance, owing to the inter-twisting of the several rods of which it is composed. The third, or ?amok method, consists in preparing a bar in the way last described, then cutting it into short pieces, and forming them into a faggot ; taking care in welding them together to preserve the sections of each piece at the surface of the blade. The experiments published some years since at Milan, by Pro fessor Crivelli, show that sword-blades of excellent quality may be produced by a combination of iron and steel. A bar of malleable steel, about an inch and a half in breadth and one-eighth of an inch in thick ness, is bound round with iron-wire, at intervals of one-third of an inch. The iron and steel are then incorporated by welding, and repeated additions of iron-wire are incorporated in the same way. The com pound bar thus formed is then stretched and divided into shorter lengths, which aro subsequently wrought into the required form, ground, and tempered. By filing semicircular grooves into both sides of the blade, and again subjecting it to the hammer, a beautiful &unasked appearance is produced ; and the figures or waterings are rendered visible by washing the blades with a menstruum of aquafortis and vinegar, so as to corrode the surface slightly. The process is said to have been practised successfully in Austria and Prussia.
Another way of explaining the variegated appearance of Damascus blades is that of M. Br6ant. He supposes that the oriental damask is not a mixture of steel and iron, but simply cast-steel charged with a superabundance of carbon ; so that, by slow cooling, two distinct com binations are formed, the first being simply steel, and the second a mixture of steel with the excess of carbon, forming a carhuretted steel or cast-iron. These two compounds form a kind of crystallised surface, which, by washing with acidulated water, assumes a damasked appear ance; the parts consisting of pure steel becoming black, while the earburretted steel remains white.
Besides the numerous contrivances for producing the variegated appearance of Damascus blades, ingenious processes are resorted to for ornamenting sword-blades by etching and embossing, and by inlaying them with gold and silver wire, an art to which the name of damas cening is sometimes applied. In the article DAMASCENE WORK, this process is noticed.