Reply To: Hardness of steel rod…

[david pierce]

Tom,
That new form of steel sounds like it machines really well. You should immediately apply for a patent.

As far as the old blacksmithing methods go, modern materials are exponentially better than anything that was produced in ancient times. The purity of the ingredients is more consistent, the quanties of the different ingredients are more precisely measured, the temperatures are more carefully controlled, the time required for the cooking process is more carefull controlled and the quality control of the finished product is much better. In the more than 30 years that I was in the business I can not believe the crap I heard over the years about cutting tools such as end mill cutters from China that were produced by ancient swordmaker steel recipies. It never worked out.
david