Here is a list of some publications to start you off. It is not comprehensive because there are hundreds of paper, from historical accounts to replication experiments, which mention crucible steel and Damascus steel.  There are also some good sites to visit on the Web, some of which are mentioned here. However, be warned, there are other sites on the Web which contain not so accurate information. So be critical of what your read! Just because I mention it here does not mean that everything they wrote is now considered accurate in the light of current research. Also don't forget my publications.  Publications with * in front indicates a particularly good paper to start with.  I have separated the publications by topic, however some papers cover one or more topics and their location below is arbitrary.

Crucible Steel and Damascus Steel

Allan, J.W. and Gilmour, B. 2000. Persian Steel: The Tanavoli Collection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Belaiew, N.T. 1918. Damascene Steel. Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute. 97: 417-437.

Belaiew, N.T. 1921. Damascene Steel. Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute. 104: 181-186.

Cahan, C. 1947-8. Un Traite d’Amurerie Compose Pour Saladin. Bulletin d’Etudes Orientales. 27: 103-63.

* Craddock, P. 1998. New Light on the Production of Crucible Steel in Asia. Bulletin of the Metals Museum. 29: 41-66. 

* Elgood, R. 1994. The Arms and Armour of Arabia in the 18^th-19^th and 20^th Centuries. London: Scholar Press. (The Appendix has a particularly good discussion about how there is no evidence that Damascus steel was made in Damascus.)

Figiel, L. S. 1991. On Damascus Steel. New York: Atlantis Arts Press.

* Lang, J. and P. Craddock and St. J. Simpson. 1998. New Evidence for Early Crucible Steel. Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society. 32. 1. 7-14.

Panseri, C. 1963. Damascus Steel in Legend and Reality. Gladius. 4:5 - 66.

Papachristou, O. and Swertschkow, L. 1993. Eisen aus Ustruschana und Tiegelstahl aus dem Fergana-Becken.  Der Anschnitt Zeitschrift fur Kunst und Kultur in Bergbau.  45: 122-131.

* Papakhristu, O. and Rehren, Th. 2002. Techniques and technology of the manufacture of ceramic vessels – crucibles for smelting wootz in Central Asia. EMAC ’99 Proceedings, Athens.

* Rehren, Th. and Papakhristu, O. 2000. Cutting Edge Technology – The Ferghana Process of Medieval Crucible Steel Smelting. Metalla. Bochum.  7(2): 55-69.

Savelina, T. V., Zinyakov, N. M., Voyakin., D. A. 1998. The Blacksmith’s Handicraft of the North – East Semirechie in the Middle Ages. Almaty: Gylym. (If you know where I can buy a copy please let me know).

* Sachse, M. 1994 . Damascus Steel: Myth, History, Technology, Applications. Wirtschaftseverk: N.W. Verl. Fur Neue Wiss.

Zschokke, B. 1924. Du Damasse et des Lames de Damas. Rev. Met. 21: 635-669.

Replication Experiments and Analytical Studies

Bogachev, I. N. 1952. Pavel Petrovich Anosov and the Secret of Damascus Steel. Mashgiz Publishers. (Translated from the Russian for the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, 1986.)

Bréant, M. 1824. Description of a Process for Making Damasked Steel. Annals of Philosophy, New Series. VIII 267-271.

Faraday, M. 1819. An Analysis of Wootz, or Indian Steel. Quarterly Journal of Science. 7: 288-290.

France-Lanord, A. 1969. Le Fer en Iran au Premier Millénaire Avant Jésus-Christ. Revue d’Historie des Mines et de la Métallurgie. Genève: Librairie Droz.  1:75-127.

GLAVACKOGO, M. E. 1999. GENERAL OT METALLURGII: PAVEL ANOSOV. (General of Metallurgy: Pavel Anosov). Ekaterenburg.

Hadfield, R. 1931. Faraday and His Metallurgical Researches. London: Chapman and Hall.

Harsh, M. 2001. Crucible Iron: Yesterday and Today. Undergraduate Senior Research Project, Northwestern University. http://wootz.nwu.edu/quicklinks.html.

Mushet, D. 1840. Papers on Iron and Steel, Practical and Experimental. London: John Weale.

Peterson, D.T., Baker H.H., and Verhoeven J. 1990. Damascus steel: The Characterization of One Damascus Steel Sword. Materials Characterization. 24: 355-374.

Piaskowski, J. 1978. Metallographic Examination of Two Damascene Steel Blades. Journal for the History of Arabic Science. 1(1): 3-30.

Stodart, J. 1818. A Brief Account of Wootz or Indian Steel. The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register. 5: 570-571.

Verhoeven, J. 2001. The Mystery of Damascus Blades. Scientific American. 284: 62-67.

Verhoeven, J and Jones, L.L. 1987. Damascus Steel, Part II: Origin of the Damask Pattern. Materials Characterization.  20: 153-180.

Verhoeven, J., Pendray. A. and Gibson, E.D. 1996. Wootz Damascus Steel Blades.  Materials Characterization. 37: 9-22.

Verhoeven, J. D. and Pendray, A. H. 1992. Experiments to produce the pattern on Damascus steel blades. Materials Characterization. 29:195-212.

Verhoeven, J. D and Pendray, A. H. 1993.Studies of Damascus Steel Blades: Part I - Experiments on Reconstructed Blades. Materials Characterization 30: 175-186.

Verhoeven, J. D. and D. T. Peterson. 1992. What is Damascus Steel? Materials Characterization. 29: 335-341

Verhoeven J. D., Baker, H. H., Peterson, D. T., Clark, J. F., and Yater, W. M. 1990. Damascus Steel, Part III: The Wadsworth-Sherby Mechanism. Materials Characterization 24: 205-227.

Voigt, A. F. and Abu-Samra, A. 1965. Analysis of a Damascus Steel by Neutron and Gamma Activation. In Proc. 1965 Conf. Modern Trends in Activation Analysis. 22-25.

Wilkinson, H. 1837. On the Cause of the External Pattern or Watering of the Damascus Sword-Blades. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 4:187-93.

Travelers Accounts

More research is really needed in this area. B. Bronson has performed a superb review of accounts from India but someone really needs to go through the accounts of Central Asian travelers, particularly Russian accounts of the area. Often there is just a brief mention of where, when, or how the blades were made, their quality or appearance. 

*Abbott, J. 1884. Narrative of a Journey from Heraut to Kiva, Moscow and St. Petersburg. London: James Madden.

Abbott and Atkinson are particularly entertaining readings, although the part about Damascus steel is brief.

*Atkinson, Thomas Witlam. 1858. Oriental and Western Siberia: A Narrative on Seven Years’ Exploration and Adventures in Siberia, Mongolia, the Kirghis Steppes, Chinese Tartary, and Part of Central Asia. London: Hurst and Blaskett.

Boutenieff, M.  1843.  Observations: Sur Le Forgeage du Damas en Boukharie. Annuaire du Journal des Mines de Russie. 424- 428.

Efendi, E. 1968. Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in The Seventeenth Century. (translated from the Turkish by The Ritter Joseph von Hammer) London: Oriental Translation Fund. (very detailed about the types of workshops, but it is a pity, he implies Damascus steel, but one can not be sure that it is what he means.)

Elphinstone, M. 1972. The Kingdom of Cabul. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Moxon, J. 1677. Mechanick Exercises or Doctrine of Handy Works. London: Ludgate Hill.

Islamic and Historical References

Al-Hassan, A.Y. 1978. Iron and Steel Technology in Medieval Arabic Sources. Journal for the History of Arabic Science. 2:1. 31-43.

Allan, J.W. 1979. Persian Metal Technology 700-1300 A.D. Oxford Oriental Monographs No. 2.  London: Ithica Press.

Said, H. M. 1989. Al-Beruni's Book on Mineralogy: The Book Most Comprehensive In Knowledge On Precious Stones. Islamabad: Pakistan Hijra Council. 

Wulff, H. 1966. The Traditional Crafts of Persia. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Zaki, A. R. 1953-54. Islamic Swords in Middle Ages. Bulletin de L’Institut d Égypt. 36: 365-379.

Zaky, A. R. 1955-56. Centers of Islamic Sword Making in Middle Ages. Bulletin de L’Institut d Égypt. 38: 285-295.

Indian and Sri Lankan Crucible Steel

Anantharamu, T. R., Craddock P. T., Nagesh R. K., Murthy, S. R. N., Wayman, M. L. 1999. Crucible Steel of Ghattihosahalli, Chitradurga District, Karnataka, Southern India. Journal of Historical Metallurgy.  33(1): 13-25.

Biswas, 1996. Minerals and Metals in Ancient India: Archaeological Evidence. New Delhi: DK Printworld. 1.

Biswas and Biswas. 1996 Mineral and Metals in Ancient India: Literary Evidence. New Delhi: DK Printworld. 2.

* Bronson, B. 1986. The Making and Selling of Wootz, A Crucible Steel of India. Archaeomaterials.  1:13-51.

Juleff, G. 1998. Early Iron and Steel in Sri Lanka: A Study of the Samanalawewa Area. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz. Ava-Materialien 54.

Lowe, T. L., Mark, N. and Thomas, G. 1991. An historical mullite fibre-reinforced ceramic composite: Characterization of the `Wootz' crucible refractory, in P.A. Vandiver, et al. (eds.), Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology II. 185:627-32. Washington: Materials Research Society.

Lowe, T. L.1989a. Refractories in High-Carbon Iron Processing: A Preliminary Study of the Deccani Wootz-Making Crucibles. in P.E. McGovern (ed). Ceramics and Civilization. The American Ceramics Society. IV:237-251.

Lowe, T. L. 1989b. Solidification and the Crucible Processing of Deccani Ancient Steel, in R. Trivedi, J.A. Sekhar and J. Mazumdar  (eds.) Proceedings, Indo-US Conference on the Principles of Solidification and Materials Processing. 729-740. Dehli: Oxford and IBH. 

Srinivasan, S. 1994. Wootz Crucible Steel: A Newly Discovered Production Site in South India. Papers From the Institute of Archaeology. 5: 49-60.

Srinivasan, S. and Griffiths, D. 1997. Crucible Steel in South India – Preliminary Investigations on Crucibles from Some Newly Identified Sites. Material Issues in Art and Archaeology.  5:111-125.

Voysey, H. W. 1832. Description of the Native Manufacture of Steel In India.  Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 1: 245-247.

Wayman, M. and Juleff, G. 1999. Crucible Steel Making in Sri Lanka. Historical Metallurgy. 33:26-42.