Damascus steel was a term used by several Western cultures from the Medieval period onward to describe a type of steel created in India and used in sword making from about 300 BC to 1700 AD. These swords were characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water. Such blades were reputed to be not only tough and resistant to shattering, but capable of being honed to a sharp and resilient edge. William Henry's damascus is made from several types of steel welded together to form a billet.
The patterns vary depending on how the damascus artist works the billet. The billet is drawn out and folded until the desired number of layers are formed. William Henry damascus billets are forged with a minimum of 300 layers. William Henry works with a handful of the very best damascus artists/forgers in the U.S.
Mother of Pearl is the common name for iridescent nacre, a blend of minerals that are secreted by oysters and other mollusks and deposited inside their shells. William Henry uses premium mother of pearl material sourced directly from suppliers in Australia, selected for maximum color and figure.
Spessartite is an orange to red-brown gemstone that belongs to the large and varied garnet species. While it was once just a collector's gem, spessartite, an orange variety of garnet, made its move into the mainstream during the 1990s when new deposits were discovered in Africa.
Like most garnets, spessartite is typically untreated, so the beautiful color and clarity that you see in them is just as nature created it. Spessartite garnet is named after its first discovery in Spessart, Bavaria, in the mid 1800's.
