Testing 001: Traditional Chemistry Including Phosphorus

This nearly successful test of a traditional wootz formulation, including the phosphorus that was present in most traditional steels, shows that proper forging and a good heat treat can create high performance blades from traditional chemistries. The historical smiths would have known more tricks than I do, so it is reasonable to assume that at least some of the antique blades would have performed even better on tests such as this.

The finish on this blade is rather poor because I had tried several different heat treats before arriving at one that I felt could be successful. By that stage I was already getting a bit thinner at the edge than I intended due to multiple rounds of re-finishing, so I decided to test with the heat treated finish intact.