One commentator explained the use of steel in the Book of Mormon: “The overall question of the use of metals by Book of Mormon cultures is an important topic that deserves detailed attention [see John Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (1985), 277–88]. … There are five explicit references to metal weapons and armor in the Book of Mormon. Two are references to Near East weapons: ‘the blade [of Laban’s sword] was of the most precious steel’ (1 Nephi 4:9), and Nephi’s bow was made of ‘fine steel’ (1 Nephi 16:18). The existence of steel (that is, carburized iron) weapons in the Near East in the early sixth century B.C. has been clearly demonstrated. Robert Maddin writes, ‘To sum up, by the beginning of the seventh century B.C. at the latest, the blacksmiths of the eastern Mediterranean had mastered two of the processes that make iron a useful material for tools and weapons: carburizing and quenching’ [“How the Iron Age Began,” Scientific American, Oct. 1977: 131]” (William J. Hamblin and A. Brent Merrill, “Swords in the Book of Mormon,” in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin [1990], 345–46).