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5th July 2022, 05:38 AM | #1 | |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
Posts: 1,036
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The black color of the wutong / shakudo alloy is induced by a chemical process commonly called "pickling", the reaction causes a color change at the surface. Etching is the use of an acid to eat away (the English term "etch" is related from a Dutch word meaning "to eat") of the metal to create a pattern (contrived by the use of a resist like wax or shellac to block the corrosive effect in certain areas), or to dull a glossy surface, or to bring out the texture of the object by reacting with different constituent alloys (for instance, in revealing the structure of a damascus blade). Regarding the alloy's use as a diagnostic tool -- somewhere in the past I read an article (can't remember where or when published) whose author stated that silver chopsticks were the norm at royal banquets because tarnishing during use could signal the presence of poison in the food. |
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5th July 2022, 05:16 PM | #2 | |
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Russia, Moscow
Posts: 367
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5th July 2022, 05:35 PM | #3 | |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Russia, Moscow
Posts: 367
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Quote:
I also learned that silver reacts quickly with arsenic. Probably arsenic was the most common poison in antiquity. Therefore, the use of silver chopsticks in Korea as indicators of the presence of poison may have reasonable grounds. |
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6th September 2022, 10:55 PM | #4 |
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 413
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Thank you Ren Ren for the information. Some very good leads to follow. I recently started a new thread not having seen all the information in this one.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...74832#poststop My Eunjando: |
11th September 2022, 11:18 PM | #5 |
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Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Canada
Posts: 259
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very cool knife, I found many videos about eunjangdos on youtube, they were fun to watch, i linked some already
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