Thread: Nasa Icing courses
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Old January 18th 06, 08:18 PM posted to rec.aviation.ifr,rec.aviation.owning,rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.student
George Patterson
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Default Engine Making Metal (Was: Nasa Icing courses)
wrote:

Right, but the entire blade is heat treated so that it is tempered,
rather than hard. If it were made from the kind of steel that
camshafts were cast from, it would be very brittle.

No, David had it right. Japanese cutting tools are made by laminating hard,
brittle steel with soft, mild steel. The best place to see this these days is
chisels or plane blades. There are only two layers in these; the outside layer
is very hard and the inside very soft (for tool steel, that is).

This has the disadvantage that the cutting edge is much more easily damaged than
that of a western blade. It is, as you point out, brittle. They were never
designed to be used in buildings with concrete floors or environments that
include nails.

George Patterson
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