Questions from an Author friend

[allfiredup]

Hi All - this cam in a from a friend who is trying to write a reasonable accurate book. Thankgoodness someone is!

It is based more in the spanish nation but any thoughts or notes on the matter would be really appriciated.

thanks

Justin

ok, I got a few questions here:
1- Damascus steel. Do you know anything about that? If a blacksmith had an ingot of Damascus steel and no more than a bloomery furnace, how long would it take for him to make a good sword? I know you'd have many related questions before answering this, but consider "the average" or "the usual" as the answer for all those questions. One week? More? Less?
2- You mentioned that most swords were rather short before the 1300's, due to the poor quality steel. Did they break too much (as in pig iron) or did they bend too often?
3- What about the spatha and the viking swords? Those were reasonably long swords that did existe in the 1000's. What type of steel were they made with?

[thorsson]

i can do it in 3 weeks but im no pro