Russian Bulat Steel

S

SCAF

Joined
Jul 13, 1999
Messages
27
This is an link to "Russian Bulat" or "Indian Woots" Steel that I found while surfing. The claimed properties are interesting. For example they claim you can remelt this steel and it will return to its initial form with no loss of quality. Has anyone seen/used this steel before?
http://www.innov.ru/woots/eng.htm
 
I tried to get the guy to send me a small
quantity and about all he seemed interested
in was getting backing( money) for more
research so I'm not sure what's up.
Reread the site again It hasn't changed from
a year ago or so. I would be careful about
becoming financially involved.

------------------
http://www.imt.net/~goshawk
Don't walk in tradition just because it feels good!!!!!
Romans 10:9,10
Hebrews 4:12-16
Psalm 91



[This message has been edited by goshawk (edited 25 December 1999).]
 
Thats odd. You would think someone who is interested in getting people to use his "patented" steel would gladly provide a sample for a fee in order to promote his steel in the America knifemaking market. I sent him an e-mail telling him to check out bladeforums to promote his steel. Maybe he will send some ingots to be made into knives for evaluation.

[This message has been edited by SCAF (edited 25 December 1999).]
 
I think that most of the page mentioned above is pure advertisement for a not-so-new product. There is a page on the web from Pendray/Verhoeven/Dauksch with som really interesting information about bulat. The word comes from the persian fulad (not "pulat"), meaning steel. I know it because my brother-in-law is persian. The more often used name for the product the man wants to sell is wootz. It is a kind of crucible molten damascus steel with some interesting properties indeed. The three people above found the recipe for making wootz lost some hundret years ago.
What i don't understand is how someone can get a patent on a product which exists since some 1000 years. But with russian administrations beeing what they are, i think you can get any kind of document if you have the right amount of the right kind of money.

Achim
 
I'm no expert, but I saw this some time ago.

I also started doing some digging when I first found it because I wondered why I hadn't heard muh about this "wonder steel".

Anyway, I found an article done by one of the big university's metalurgy department (can't find the link at the moment), and the bottom line is that wootz ain't no big - steel is steel and it's properties are dependant on the elements that are used in its making.

There is a maker in the US that has been doing his own wootz blades for some time and helped with that particular article.

The reason wootz disappeared was that the ore they were using (somewhere in india) was mined out. The blademasters at the time found that the methods they were using no longer worked on the steels that were now available and the whole process was dropped; why practice something that doesn't work.

Anyway, through the studies done, it was found that wootz blades contained (that was natural to the ore being mined) vanadium and other "enhancing" elements that the regular carbon steel of the day didn't contain.

Modern metalurgy can produce superior steels that can do the same thing as wootz (and probably exceed it).

Like I said, I'm no expert, let me know if I'm out to lunch.

Darren
 
If you want to get complete and comprehensive description of wootz and
technological problems, connected with it, you may visit the site of Serguey Lounyov http://members.tripod.com/lounyov/ It was made bilingual recently. Most of articles have parallel translations. Please, do not hesitate to contact me if you notice
something, which may be improved (sorry - a lot of misprints).
But information is as exact as possible. Lounyov's Cast Damascus/True
Damascus/Wootz/Boolat (these are all synonyms) contains from 1.5 to 3% of carbon. Hardness, cutting properties, toughness are
incomparable.
If you choose to order something - contact me in English.
We may arrange everything.

The properties are really fantastic - I have one of those wootz daggers.

Best regards,
Boris Ustyuzhanin mailto:borust@teleport-tp.ru
borust@pol.ru
Borust@excite.com
 
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