Ancient tempering techniques

[J.Arthur Loose]

Anyone know of any documentation as to Ancient / Dark Ages / Early Medieval tempering techniques?

I'm thinking of open flame and watching the temper colors, or simple kilns, or laying a blade on a heated surface...

Supposedly Pliny mentions some tempering techniques in his Natural History but I couldn't find them.

[Mike Hull]

I doubt that this contains the info you are after, but I ran across it while looking, and thought it might be useful to you.
http://staff.hum.ku.dk/dbwagner/REHD/REHD.html

[J.Arthur Loose]

Thanks, Mike.

That one is now in my bookmarks of cool smelting links.

It is one of my strong beliefs that the secrecy regarding quality knives & swords has left us with the impression that nobody understood steel metallurgy until recently. We are so used to available information that we forget how rare and precious it has been in historical terms...

http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/archsci/d...amrg/steel.htm

[Mike Hull]

Originally posted by J.Loose
It is one of my strong beliefs that the secrecy regarding quality knives & swords has left us with the impression that nobody understood steel metallurgy until recently. We are so used to available information that we forget how rare and precious it has been in historical terms...

http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/archsci/d...amrg/steel.htm

I agree, plus the arrogance of many modern scholars who think that we are the epitome.
People back then knew how to use what they had, very well.

[Don Halter]

Tempering seems to be one of those things I never see much about. I guess I just assumed it was done using another heated piece of metal or just a slight re-heat in coals.

Kind of brings up a whole other topic foe conversation. If they had the knowledge to heat/quench harden it in the first place, seems logical they would have figured out a little re-heating would reduce the incidence of edges chipping. I've never seen any study done as to frequency of edge chips in recovered blades or anything relating to actual hardness...but I've never really looked either. Of course,...With a composite blade, consiting of wrought/lowcarbon upper section (seax style) or core section (viking style) and an edge of ~1050-1070 steel, would tempering really be needed?

[Gabe Newell]

Were you thinking of the Daktyloi?

Reference in Pliny's Natural History to Hesiod's statements about Idaean Dactyls teaching the smelting and tempering of iron

[Gabe Newell]

This seems to rule out the Egyptians for anything interesting:

Composition and Development of Ancient Egyptian Tools