Editing Pattern welding (section)

===Pattern welding in Europe===
Pattern welding dates to the first millennium BC, with Celtic, and later Germanic swords exhibiting the technique,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Maryon|first=Herbert|date=1960|title=Pattern-Welding and Damascening of Sword-Blades: Part 1 Pattern-Welding|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1505063|journal=Studies in Conservation|volume=5|issue=1|pages=25–37|doi=10.2307/1505063|jstor=1505063 |issn=0039-3630}}</ref> with the Romans describing the blade patternation.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Randolph|first=Octavia|title=Pattern Welded Swords|url=https://octavia.net/pattern-welded-swords/|access-date=2020-07-30|website=octavia.net}}</ref>{{sfn|Williams|2012|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FW5FaeZEVAsC&pg=PA75 75]}}
<!-- The earliest known use of pattern welding in Europe is from an 8th century [[BCE]] sword found at Singen, Württemberg in Germany.{{sfn|Peirce|Oakeshott|2004}}<ref>Salter & Ehrenreich, 1984</ref> -->By the 2nd and 3rd century AD, the [[Celts]] commonly used pattern welding for decoration in addition to structural reasons. The technique involves folding and forging alternating layers of steel into rods, then twisting the steel to form complex patterns when forged into a blade.{{sfn|Verhoeven|2002|pages=356-365}}  By the 6th and 7th centuries, pattern welding had reached a level where thin layers of patterned steel were being overlaid onto a soft iron core, making the [[sword]]s far better as the iron gave them a flexible and springy core that would take any shock from sword blows to stop the blade bending or snapping. By the end of the [[Viking Age]], pattern welding fell out of use in Europe.{{sfn|Peirce|Oakeshott|2004}}{{sfn|Peirce|Oakeshott|2004}}{{sfn|Peirce|Oakeshott|Jones|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4-J3uhtPZ8MC&pg=PA145 145]}}

In medieval swords, pattern welding was more prevalent than commonly thought.  However, the presence of rust makes detection difficult without repolishing.{{sfn|Williams|2012|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FW5FaeZEVAsC&pg=PA75 75]}}

During the [[Middle Ages]], [[Wootz steel]] was produced in [[India]] and exported globally, including to Europe.  The similarities in the markings led many to believe it was the same process being used, and pattern welding was revived by European smiths who were attempting to duplicate the [[Damascus steel]].  While the methods used by Damascus smiths to produce their blades was lost over the centuries, recent efforts by metallurgists and bladesmiths (such as Verhoeven and Pendray) to reproduce steel with identical characteristics have yielded a process that does not involve pattern welding.{{sfn|Verhoeven|2002|pages=356-365}}
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The technique is more commonly associated with [[Japan]] and reached a high degree of development in the fourteenth century.   This association leads some to incorrectly believe that pattern welding originated in Japan.  There are also examples of pattern welding in weaponry from the pre-colonial [[Philippines]] and Indonesia.
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The ancient swordmakers exploited the [[aesthetic]] qualities of pattern welded steel. The [[Viking]]s,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-08|title=Ancient blacksmiths were pioneers of modern welding|url=https://weldingvalue.com/2020/07/ancient-blacksmiths-were-pioneers-modern-welding/|access-date=2021-12-19|website=Welding Value|language=en-US}}</ref> in particular, were fond of twisting  bars of steel around each other, welding the bars together by hammering and then repeating the process with the resulting bars, to create complex patterns in the final steel bar. Two bars twisted in opposite directions created the common [[chevron (insigne)|chevron]] pattern. Often, the center of the blade was a core of soft steel, and the edges were solid high carbon steel, similar to the laminates of the Japanese.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tylecote |first=Ronald F. |title=The metallography of early ferrous edge tools and edged weapons |last2=Gilmour |first2=Brian J. J. |last3=Tylecote |first3=R. F. |last4=Gilmour |first4=B. J. J. |date=1986 |publisher=British Archaeological Reports |isbn=978-0-86054-401-2 |series=British archaeological reports British series |location=Oxford}}</ref>