{  . The sword of Tipu sultan and wootz steel.    }​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

we begin the story of Indian steel and iron metallurgy by recounting the famous story of Tipu sultan who ruled Mysore till 1799 fought four wars with the British and died fighting with his sword in his hand. Tipu's legendary swords are now part of valuable collections in museums in England. But do you know why the sword was so special? The sword had an incredibly hard and sharp edge that could easily rip through the opponent Armour. This quality of the sword came from a special type of high carbon steel called wootz which was produced all over south India.  Wootz steel when made into swords produced a very sharp edge with a flowing water pattern. This pattern came from very small carbon crystals embedded in the iron. Francis Buchanan who toured through Mysore in 1800 a year after Tipu sultan's death has left us an account of the technique by which wootz steel was produced in many hundreds of smelting furnaces in Mysore. In these furnaces iron was mixed with charcoal and put inside small clay pots. Through an intricate control of temperature.