Damascus Steel

Known as one of the strongest steels in the world, this metal could supposedly cut through anything. Easily identifiable due to the particular pattern, the steel was a composite of various ores from all over the middle East and was prevalent from the 1100’s all the way to the 1700’s. Somewhere along the way, however, the process changed (whether the materials ran out, or sword makers altered the process), or was lost and the ‘true’ method of making Damascus steel disappeared. Today, you can get patterned blades that are called Damascus steel, but they aren’t true representations of the ancient metal.