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Originally Posted by Chris Evans
Richard,
Does not seem as if the edge has been quench hardened. So how hard do you estimate it to be?
Cheers
Chris
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Impossible to tell without measuring on a machine.
As an indication of variety I suggest these two videos taken in Jodhpur, India. The two doing the testing are from The Wallace Collection of London and I'm the bearded one standing behind them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyGXTlEAaAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMwZWp0b5kE
Generally speaking the matrix (dark areas)will deform before a chip forms...this is the nature of pearlite, but when you quench and turn the pearlite to martensite and do not reheat enough to temper that hardness then chips are more likely. The white bands are cementite and largely unchanged from heat treatment...they are very hard indeed...harder than martensite.
I have held some blades that, after testing, I was very careful setting the blade down...they were so hard I have no idea how they lasted hundreds of years. I would have thought a wing of a butterfly would shatter the edge.
Much to learn.
Ric