On Mar 15, 8:41*pm, Brian Whatcott wrote:

I felt good - just reading that old recipe. Thank you
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Dear Brian,

I don't know how true it is ( ie, the infusion of trace elements in
leather charcoal ) but I've heard it from more than one machinist
whose advice I feel I can trust. The only quantified test I know of
[done with a 'gas chromatograph'??] showed that different leathers did
in fact show different amounts of things such as chromium and
vanadium. Ditto for bone charcoal.

A modern-day metallurgist would probably laugh me out of the shop but
I've got a couple of burins (ie, engraving tools for gun work) that
I made in the mid-60's which still produce a neat curl of metal from
most rifle receivers.

As for the steel strapping, back in the 1960's when I was doing a lot
of black-smithing I hammer-welded about twenty feet of half-inch strap
into twelve inch bar then drew out to a thirty-inch sword blade. That
was taking the Japanese method sorta backwards but I swear that sword
had no trouble cutting mild steel.

-R.S.Hoover