wootz

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“
It would also form steel or wootz (Indian steel) of excellent quality.

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Definitions (2)

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  1. The name given to steel made in India by fusing iron with carbonaceous matter. This is done in small crucibles holding a pound or two of the iron, and the wood selected to furnish the carbon to the metal is always that of Cassia auriculata, which is cut into small pieces, the same being done with the iron, and the whole covered by one or more green leaves, usually of a species of Convolvulus, the crucible being then covered with a lid of clay. A number of these crucibles are placed together in a hole dug in the ground, and heated in a charcoal-fire urged by a pair of bellows made of ox-hide, the blast being kept up for three or four hours. The steel thus obtained is hard in temper, and requires much care in working. This is the oldest method of making steel of which anything definite is known, having been in use, without change, for an indefinite length of time, and being, as generally believed, original with the Hindus.

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Examples (9)

  • The crucible charge is an iron sponge called a wootz, forged into an iron plate together with wood, which yields its ash into the mix, and some water too. —  THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT - Kim Stanley Robinson
  • You get different patterns and colours depending on which sulphate you use, and what kind of wootz, and what kind of temperatures. —  THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT - Kim Stanley Robinson
  • So backward are the Nepaulese in their treatment of minerals, that they cannot smelt lead: the fact of their beating cannon-balls into shape proves their incapacity to cast iron, unless it results from a peculiarity of the ore, so frequent in India, which, instead of yielding cast-iron at once when reduced in the usual way, gives wootz--a condition of iron closely allied to steel, ductile but not fusible. —  A Journey to Katmandu (the Capital of Napaul), with The Camp of Jung Bahadoor; including A Sketch of the Nepaulese Ambassador at Home
  • It would also form steel or wootz (Indian steel) of excellent quality. —  The Khasis
  • The celebrated wootz or steel of India, made in little cakes of only about two pounds weight, possesses qualities which no European steel can surpass. —  Industrial Biography, Iron Workers and Tool Makers
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Etymologies (1)

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  1. Supposed to be an orig. error or misprint, perhaps for *wook, representing Canarese ukku (pron. wukku), steel.
 

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