I have been entirely fascinated by this thread, which has produced a discussion that offers most readable and beautifully explained aspects of a subject that I have always had difficulty relating to, metallurgy. While obviously of utmost importance in studying edged weapons, I always preferred to focus on typology, styles, markings and motif and the history of use. Most material concerning metallurgical subjects has, to me,been a bit too technical ( the appearance of complex terminology and numeric formulas sends my mind into sleep mode
but reading the dialogue you guys have put together here is great!
Thank you David, for posting the original article, and everyone for the great input, and links, which I was able to read with far better understanding thanks to the footing given by your discussions.
Jens, thank you for the great illustration and reference to this early resource. These earlier references are fantastic at adding perspective, and adding that benchmark to all this material was a great addition.
I thought this extremely informative thread should be placed in the sticky column, for its outstanding reference potential.
All the best,
Jim