Iron Age Sword

Iron Age Sword

Swords made of iron (as opposed to bronze) appear from the Early Iron Age (c. 12th century BC), but do not become widespread before the 8th century BC.

Early iron swords were not comparable to later steel blades. The iron was not quench hardened although often containing sufficient carbon, but work-hardened just like bronze by hammering. This made them comparable or only slightly better in terms of strength and hardness to bronze swords. So they could still bend during use, rather than spring back into shape. But the easier production, and the better availability of the raw material allowed for larger scale production.

Eventually smiths learned that by adding an amount of carbon (added during smelting in the form of charcoal) in the iron, they could produce an improved alloy (now known as steel). By quenching and tempering, (quenching makes the steel hard and brittle, tempering removes the brittleness), swords could be made that would suffer much less damage, and would spring back into shape if bent. It took a long time however until this was done consistently, and even until the end of the early medieval period, many swords were still unhardened iron. Several different methods of swordmaking existed in ancient times, including, most famously, pattern welding. Over time, different methods developed all over the world.