Didn't your mom tell you not to play with knives?

[DukeP]

Yeah well..
Damascus swords where special. I dont think they where particular strong - at least not stronger than the puremade spanish steel.
They were more famous from their surface mosaic, which was known as the "Rose and the ladder".
It is, btw, no longer possible to craft Damascus swords.

Heres a quote to why:

The smiths that produced the high-quality blades would most likely have kept the process for making these blades a closely guarded secret to be passed on only to their apprentices. The smiths would be able to teach the apprentices the second and third points listed, but point one is something they would not have known. There is no difference in physical appearance between an ingot with the proper minor elements present and one without. Suppose that during several generations all of the ingots from India were coming from an ore body with the proper amount of minor elements present, and blades with good patterns were being produced. Then, after a few centuries, the ore source may have been exhausted or become inaccessible to the smithing community; therefore, the technique no longer worked. With time, the smiths who knew about the technique died out without passing it on to their apprentices (since it no longer worked), so even if a similar source was later found, the knowledge was no longer around to exploit it. The possible validity of this theory could be examined if data were available on the level of carbide-forming elements in the various ore deposits in India used to produce wootz steel.

From http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM...even-9809.html

Still:

Kings from all parts of the world have had swords and sabers forged in Toledo. Even Japanese Samurai were aware of the existence of Toledos steel as it had been introduced by the Spanish merchants that followed the steps of the Spanish and Portuguese Jesuits. As Japan lived in a state of continuous civil war, it is not surprising that some of their Daimyos even came to Toledo to have their katana and wakizashi forged there. They knew how important was a perfect design and finish for the effectiveness of a sword.
...
In other parts of the world, craftsmen have tried to imitate the perfection of Toledos steel, but they all failed. Damascus steel was too hard, not at all flexible, because it contained only iron and carbon and wasn't refined of all the mineral impure elements.
Swedish steel was based on a soft steel, carbureted in a furnace, surrounded by animal horns and hair, leaves, etc. and heated at a temperature of about 1650º F. Swords were also manufactured in Solingen (Germany). There, they twisted together wires of different thickness and carbon contents in order to get a threadlike structure that combined hard and soft steel. the swords of Nimes (France) were also recognized for their good quality...

http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/articles/steel_collector/swords_from_toledo.html

~~DukeP~~