11-18-2013, 02:13 AM
The brittleness is before you temper the blade, after it is quenched high carbon is as hard as it can be.
After this stage, you temper that softens the blade some but, also makes it tougher.
That's the very simplified explination of course, what we have today is quite a bit different than what the Romans used and, they used different types of steels themselves in many different ways.
From the research I've done so far,what we call mild steel today comes closest to the properties we would expect to find in many original blades, one with perhaps case hardened edge would be very close I think.
After this stage, you temper that softens the blade some but, also makes it tougher.
That's the very simplified explination of course, what we have today is quite a bit different than what the Romans used and, they used different types of steels themselves in many different ways.
From the research I've done so far,what we call mild steel today comes closest to the properties we would expect to find in many original blades, one with perhaps case hardened edge would be very close I think.
Dave Akers http://davesons.webs.com/
