# Looking for Scientific American article

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-scientific-american-article/82529>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 19, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-scientific-american-article/82529 "2001-09-19T04:07:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![1kBR\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/dc4da7/32.png) [@1kBR\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1kBR_Kid)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-scientific-american-article/82529/1 "2001-09-19T04:07:16Z")

</div>

IIRC, SciAm had an article on knifemaking back around December 2000. I’ve searched their site and I can’t faind any reference to it. I don’t want anyone to send a copy, I just want to know when the article was published.

Thanks, 1kBR Kid

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-scientific-american-article/82529/2 "2001-09-19T04:10:04Z")

</div>

I’ve read every issue for the last two or three years, and that doesn’t ring a bell. Are you sure it was SciAm?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![1kBR\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/dc4da7/32.png) [@1kBR\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1kBR_Kid)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-scientific-american-article/82529/3 "2001-09-19T04:18:20Z")

</div>

Well, I could swear it was SciAm. About 3 seconds after I posted, I remembered that it was an article about Damascus Steel. Ring a bell?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-scientific-american-article/82529/4 "2001-09-19T04:42:56Z")

</div>

The article was entitled _ **"The Mystery of Damascus Blades"** _ by John D. Verhoeven. It appeared in the January 2001 issue of Scientific American. The abstract reads “Centuries ago craftsmen forged peerless steel blades. But how did they do it? The author and a blacksmith have found an answer”. As far as I can tell, the article is not available online.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![1kBR\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/dc4da7/32.png) [@1kBR\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1kBR_Kid)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-scientific-american-article/82529/5 "2001-09-19T04:46:03Z")

</div>

Thanks guys. Now I know what issue to look for.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fierra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@fierra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fierra)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-scientific-american-article/82529/6 "2001-09-19T11:08:45Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by evilhanz \*  
> \*\* As far as I can tell, the article is not available online. \*\*

No but this one from the chicago (cough)[sub]tribune[/sub] is - [http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0108130162aug13.story?coll=chi-news-hed](http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0108130162aug13.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed)

It won’t have all the details you would have found in the SciAm article, but should give you a start (thanks for the original info, [douglips](http://65.69.77.33/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=634)).