[Jeff D]

Originally Posted by Richard Furrer

I make wootz, I make bloomery steel, I make European crucible steel (Huntsman), I make blister and shear steel (I'll be doing studies into Chinese cast iron decarburization next year)....I have conducted and had done at labs actual scientific testing on this material I make as well as the old blades I have. Some of this is posted on my website and some is not.
Simply because such information has not been released to the public does not mean that smiths are not conduction them. Frankly, I see little benefit to casting the results to the wind...folk who like old blades rarely buy new blades and folk who buy new blades have an interest in old blades...to a point.
As to "better" it matters little as those battle have been fought and won/lost before. I still get paper cuts and all my blades can cut paper, I get wood splinters and all by blades can shave wood...humans are soft and squishy..how "good" does an edge need to be to injure us? How good does a helmet need to be to keep the one under the bucket from getting cut?

As to hardness...it depends on the heat treatment of the blade and its carbon levels..nothing else. Without a doubt the as quenched hardness of a blade is dependent upon carbon level only.
I have hardness levels on old wootz that runs the gambit from 20 rockwell C to 58 RC..and the same for European and Japanese blades of the same time frames....hardness it seems is as variable as the style of blade and its culture.
If I were to make a general statement it would be that
"generally, hand made blades made from batch process steel (including European) was highly variable and that each needs to be individually evaluated." It would be nice to say otherwise as it would make evaluation simple, but life simply is not simple.

I straightened a 15th cent wootz blade a few years ago for a collector and it skated a file on the edge...I have done the same with European blades...and I have also had them soft as steel can get....go figure.

I have an assadullah here now in my collection...it is in good shape for now....but every now and then I get the urge....
Still looking for a running fox or other similar to test....

I can made a modern alloy steel perform poorly...and many current smiths can accomplish this without trying...or indeed intending to do so.

As to edge to edge contact proving one blade being superior to another..hogwash. Blades are dynamic things..hardness is but one of the criteria...which is what keeps this craft interesting...and frustrating.

Ric

Where's the LIKE button?

Jeff