Famous Blades of Toledo

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 36, 5 September 1907, Page 34

Famous Blades of Toledo

The Spanish towns were celebrated throughout the civilized world for the excellence of their swords, and among them all Toledo stood unrivalled' for the temper of her steel. The- Toledo blade, famous in song and story, was- so keen, so flexible, and withal so strong that its fineness became proverbial. When Ahe Moors overran Spain in the ninth century they were already masters of many of the arts, and especially were they adepts in the working of metal. Their swords were highly valued for their delicate temper, and their special decoration, which, we still call damascening, was also justly prized. It was from these conquerors that the Spanish learned much of their skill in forging and tempering steel. And that the completeness of the noblest weapon men ever made should not be marred by the lack of any element, natural or artificial, the fairy god-mother, Nature, contributed one more gift. On the banks of the Tagus there is an abundance of fine sand. In the process of forging the metal 1 is taken 'white hot from the furnace and is isubfjected to a cooling process. It was "to the peculiar properties of this white Tagus sand, in which the cooling blade was buried, . that the Toledo swords owed their unequalled hardness and great flexibility.