Detroit Steel: Re-examining and Rehousing the Arms and Armor Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts (original) (raw)

A Metallographic Examination of a Toledo Steel Sword

The present article examines the metallographic structure of a parade sword which was manufactured in the Royal Manufactory of Toledo, Spain, around the year 1851. The sword formed part of a cavalry officer's uniform. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) were employed for an examination. It was possible to demonstrate the outstanding workmanship in the manufacture of the sword, which consisted of two steels of different carbon contents which were welded together by hot forging. This also explains the excellent mechanical properties of the sword and the top-class historical reputation of weapons for cut and thrust from the Royal Manufactory of Toledo.

Metal Armor from St. Lawrence Island

According to oral history and archaeological evidence armor was an important innovation associated with warfare among Eskimo-speaking groups around Bering Strait and along the west coast of Alaska. The use of lamellar armor in this region-made of bone, antler, or ivory plates-is generally believed to be derived from the use of similar armor in Asia made of bone or metal. This paper describes metal armor at the University of Alaska Museum of the North from three sites on St. Lawrence Island and offers an explanation for when and how this armor was made. In addition, this paper provides an overview of the use of armor in Bering Strait and Western Alaska.

AN EXAMINATION OF FLINTLOCK COMPONENTS AT FORT ST. JOSEPH (20BE23), NILES, MICHIGAN

2019

The purpose of this study is to identify the age, country and place of origin, function (e.g. fusil, pistol), and intended use (e.g. military, trade gun) of flintlock components recovered from Fort St. Joseph (20BE23), an eighteenth-century French mission-garrison-trading post in southwest Michigan. Flintlock muskets were a vital technology in New France throughout the fur trade era, both in their roles as weapons and as hunting implements. They were also important because their relatively complex nature necessitated localized, frontier supply and repair; their use and maintenance were integrated into many facets of frontier life. Historical documents and archaeological materials show that Fort St. Joseph was one location where flintlock-related activities occurred. Close examination of Fort St. Joseph's flintlock artifacts provides insight into the weapons that were used and maintained on the frontier, as well as the significant roles they played in the North American fur trade more widely.

Metallographic investigation of a Toledo-steel sword

The present article examines the metallographic structure of a parade sword which was manufactured in the Royal Manufactory of Toledo, Spain, around the year 1851. The sword formed part of a cavalry officer‘s uniform. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) were employed for an examination. It was possible to demonstrate the outstanding workmanship in the manufacture of the sword, which consisted of two steels of different carbon contents which were welded together by hot forging. This also explains the excellent mechanical properties of the sword and the top-class historical reputation of weapons for cut and thrust from the Royal Manufactory of Toledo. Bilingual german - english

DAMASCUS STEEL I N LEGEND AND I N R E A L I T Y " DAMASCUS STEEL IN LEGEND AND IN REALITY

ANYONE who follows the ancient and glorious history Of arms, whether as a collector or as a student, has surely in his reading often run across the term ~damascened steel or Damascus steel, or simply damas-cus, applied (not always in correct or pertinent fashion) to the constituent materials of edged weapons or of the barrels of firearms. The reason for a particular type of steel having borne the name of a city in the Near East is something which still evades our inquiries. Yet it may be put on record that at the end of the high Middle Ages the trade in steels and blades of oriental manufactures was concentrated precisely in the ancient city of Damascus, in Syria, the Dimisk as-Sham of the Arabs; here, indeed, it appears that important arms manufac-tories had existed as far back as the era of Diocletian. Yet around 1400 the city of Damascus was conquered by the hordes of Timur i Leng (Tamerlane), which enslaved the inhabitants and removed the best ar-tificers, whereupon an effective local center of arms production ceased almost completely to exist. But in the same city a flourishing textile industry continued to live on, for which reason one cannot exclude the possibility that by reason of the external appearance, the immediate visual impression, which the oriental blades indeed conveyed to the eye of the beholder, the steel of which they were composed may borne a name which commemorates the famous patterned textiles that are still called damask-just as the Italian word majolica derives, through late Latin majorica, from the Balearic island Mayorca. The ambiguous meaning of the term and its late attribution to most disparate qualities of steels, however, owe their origin to the indiscriminate use which was made of it in past centuries, and especially in the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries, by European voyagers and commentators ; and the justification for this arises from the confused state of metallurgical knowledge, which the refinement of methods of metal-lurgical research and the progress of the science of metals have only within the last century contrived to place in a certain order, historically and technologically. ANYONE who follows the ancient and glorious history of arms, whether as a collector or as a student, has surely in his reading often run across the term damascened steel or Damascus steel, or simply damas-cus, applied (not always in correct or pertinent fashion) to the constituent materials of edged weapons or of the barrels of firearms. The reason for a particular type of steel having borne the name of a city in the Near East is something which still evades our inquiries. Yet it may be put on record that at the end of the high Middle Ages the trade in steels and blades of oriental manufactures was concentrated precisely in the ancient city of Damascus, in Syria, the Dimisk as-Sham of the Arabs; here, indeed, it appears that important arms manufac-tories had existed as far back as the era of Diocletian. Yet around 1400 the city of Damascus was conquered by the hordes of Timur i Leng (Tamerlane), which enslaved the inhabitants and removed the best ar-tificers, whereupon an effective local center of arms production ceased almost completely to exist. But in the same city a flourishing textile industry continued to live on, for which reason one cannot exclude the possibility that by reason of the external appearance, the immediate visual impression, which the oriental blades indeed conveyed to the eye of the beholder, the steel of which they were composed may borne a name which commemorates the famous patterned textiles that are still called damask-just as the Italian word majolica derives, through late Latin majorica, from the Balearic island Mayorca. The ambiguous meaning of the term and its late attribution to most disparate qualities of steels, however, owe their origin to the indiscriminate use which was made of it in past centuries, and especially in the XVlIIth and XIXth centuries, by European voyagers and commentators ; and the justification for this arises from the confused state of metallurgical knowledge, which the refinement of methods of metal-lurgical research and the progress of the science of metals have only within the last century contrived to place in a certain order, historically and technologically.

History of Antique Arms. Researches 2020

History of Antique Arms. Researches 2020: Collection of Scientific Papers / ed. Denys Toichkin; Institute of History of Ukraine NASU. – Kyiv: Stylos, 2023. – 387 p., 2023

This collection of scientific papers is based on the materials of the IV International Conference on the History of Arms & Armor, held in Kyiv, Ukraine, November 3-4, 2020. Languages: Ukrainian (12 articles), English (10 articles), Russian (2 articles) Editorial Board: Ph.D., Prof. M. Dmytriienko (chair), Ph.D., Prof., Correspondent Member of NASU H. Boriak, Ph.D. D. Toichkin, Ph.D. V. Tomozov, Sc.D. V. Prokopenko, Ph.D. O. Popelnytska. Compiler: Ph.D. Denys Toichkin Reviewers: Ph.D., Prof., Correspondent Member of NASU O. Reient; Ph.D. T. Chukhlib; Ph.D., Prof. I. Voitsekhivska.