Uploaded April 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Shamshir made by Asad Allāh Iṣfahānī circa 1600 (4K UHD)
In 1601, Sigismund III Wasa / Zygmunt III Waza of Poland sent an Armenian merchant, Sefer Muratovitch, on a commercial mission to Isfahan with instructions to procure “rugs woven with the royal arms, as well as costly fabrics, tents and weapons, specifically sabre blades of watered steel.”
This is very likely one of those watered steel sabres, being from the correct period, and form and country origin, as well as being made from the highest grade of wootz, by the very best of makers. The steel is highly spheroidised (the cementite carbides form spheres during sub-critical soaking) as is characteristic of Assad Allahs work around 1600-1607. It was also found in Poland, which fits the above theory.
The wootz on this sword is "Kara Khorassan" wootz (black wootz from the Khorason Region) - it has a distinct styling, being dark with fine, light, tight swirls, and is formed when a specific steel from a specific source is manipulated and forged in a specific way.
The blade has gone through resharpening during its lifetime, probably during the 17th century, and shows this in the damage to the signature and the change in grain direction near the edge. It is still quite a substantial blade, and feels almost tip heavy, with significant blade presence. It is worth noting that most authentic Assad Allah blades do have more intensely forged edges, indicated by denser, parallel cementite rafts near the edge (Figiel, pp. 28).
It causes a distinctive pattern, with a dark base of softer steel (sorbite crystals) and brighter, harder steel (cementite crystals).
The wootz process involved very slow heating, followed by slow cooling, occurring over 24-48 hours. This lead to distinct patterns of low carbon steel with a lattice of high carbon steel that provides good edge retention in a shock absorbing core material.
Pieces of bloomery iron were heated for days in sealed crucibles with a carbon-containing material until enough carbon had been absorbed for the steel to be formed as a liquid, at 1300 °C–1400 °C. The carbon content of the resultant button of steel was about 1.5%.
This technique disappeared around the 1750's, likely due to the depletion of the mines in the region which removed the incentive for making this style of steel, as the specific alloying compounds in the ore from a small group of mines allowed this steel to form surface carbides.
The end of the age of wootz lead to the use of more conventionally produced "bloomery iron", an early steel, until modern monosteel was made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries via the bessemer process.
“Wootz”, “Bulat”, “Ukku” and “crucible steel” all describe a particular form of refined steel used in the production of arms and armor from antiquity (arguably as early as 300BCE), to roughly 1750CE, in what is today known as Southern India and in various surrounding areas. Many ore mines and furnace sites have been identified, and the variety of wootz produced from these different ore sources has led to a classification system based on the differences in visual characteristics of the steel once etched.
These visual differences are due to key chemical impurities which lead to a change in the crystallisation of the steel, manifesting in very clear patterns in the banding of the carbides in the steel.
The historical value of wootz steel comes from its ideally suited balance of edge retention, and shock absorption for use in bladed weaponry, however its use also extended to armour.
Shamshir made by Asad Allāh Iṣfahānī circa 1600 (4K UHD)
In 1601, Sigismund III Wasa / Zygmunt III Waza of Poland sent an Armenian merchant, Sefer Muratovitch, on a commercial mission to Isfahan with instructions to procure “rugs woven with the royal arms, as well as costly fabrics, tents and weapons, specifically sabre blades of watered steel.”
This is very likely one of those watered steel sabres, being from the correct period, and form and country origin, as well as being made from the highest grade of wootz, by the very best of makers. The steel is highly spheroidised (the cementite carbides form spheres during sub-critical soaking) as is characteristic of Assad Allahs work around 1600-1607. It was also found in Poland, which fits the above theory.
The wootz on this sword is "Kara Khorassan" wootz (black wootz from the Khorason Region) - it has a distinct styling, being dark with fine, light, tight swirls, and is formed when a specific steel from a specific source is manipulated and forged in a specific way.
The blade has gone through resharpening during its lifetime, probably during the 17th century, and shows this in the damage to the signature and the change in grain direction near the edge. It is still quite a substantial blade, and feels almost tip heavy, with significant blade presence. It is worth noting that most authentic Assad Allah blades do have more intensely forged edges, indicated by denser, parallel cementite rafts near the edge (Figiel, pp. 28).
It causes a distinctive pattern, with a dark base of softer steel (sorbite crystals) and brighter, harder steel (cementite crystals).
The wootz process involved very slow heating, followed by slow cooling, occurring over 24-48 hours. This lead to distinct patterns of low carbon steel with a lattice of high carbon steel that provides good edge retention in a shock absorbing core material.
Pieces of bloomery iron were heated for days in sealed crucibles with a carbon-containing material until enough carbon had been absorbed for the steel to be formed as a liquid, at 1300 °C–1400 °C. The carbon content of the resultant button of steel was about 1.5%.
This technique disappeared around the 1750's, likely due to the depletion of the mines in the region which removed the incentive for making this style of steel, as the specific alloying compounds in the ore from a small group of mines allowed this steel to form surface carbides.
The end of the age of wootz lead to the use of more conventionally produced "bloomery iron", an early steel, until modern monosteel was made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries via the bessemer process.
“Wootz”, “Bulat”, “Ukku” and “crucible steel” all describe a particular form of refined steel used in the production of arms and armor from antiquity (arguably as early as 300BCE), to roughly 1750CE, in what is today known as Southern India and in various surrounding areas. Many ore mines and furnace sites have been identified, and the variety of wootz produced from these different ore sources has led to a classification system based on the differences in visual characteristics of the steel once etched.
These visual differences are due to key chemical impurities which lead to a change in the crystallisation of the steel, manifesting in very clear patterns in the banding of the carbides in the steel.
The historical value of wootz steel comes from its ideally suited balance of edge retention, and shock absorption for use in bladed weaponry, however its use also extended to armour.
