Hi Folks,
1. What Carlo and GT Obach say about the input of the smith is absolutely correct and cannot be emphasized sufficiently. These days we concentrate a little too much on the potential of the basic steel and tend to disregard the process of forging and heat treatment, which in the old days was of equal or greater importance. We have to keep in mind that the ancients had no accurate means of measuring temperature and worse still, had little or no idea as to why things turned out (metallurgically) the way they did. Theirs was an entirely empirical process.
2. GT Obach: Did you ever do a metallographic examination of your quenched Wootz blades? If so, what was the carbide distribution like?
3. Carlo: Thank you for those illustrations of grain sizes and microstructures. For those who would like to read a little more, here is a good article, albeit a little heavy at times.
http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/...pb9/861397.PDF
Cheers
Chris