Originally Posted by
ian
Hi Dean
there's a book called 'Out of the Fiery Furnace" which among many many other things covers the disappearance of Damascus steel. The method of making Damascus steel wasn't so much lost as bypassed. All early steels were hammer forged and their properties depended more on the impurities (what today are known as alloying elements) contained within the local source of iron and charcoal.
From what I recall, Damascus steel disappeared around the time England's iron making industry started exporting cheap iron ingots. The Damascus smiths switched to the cheaper supply and the rest is history as they say ...