Damascus Razor Edge Chisels

[george wilson]

I don't get that statement,Malcom. If the Saber jet was already a "supersonic" aircraft,why did they continue to try developing aircraft that were supersonic,such as the Bell X1? That's how that works out for me. This process continued into the era of the Delta wing jet. They thought they had all the power they needed,and had done the math. But,the jet just would NOT break the sound barrier. A scientist invented what is now called the "Area Rule" in aircraft design. He narrowed down the body of the plane where the wings joined it. The jet would then go supersonic. He correctly reasoned that the air "saw" the bulk of the body + the wing as a large "lump"(the best word I can think of),that had to be pushed through the air. This large cross sectional "lump" was too much for the engine to over come. Narrowing the body decreased the sum total of the cross sectional area at that point. I remember reading about the new "wasp waisted" aircraft in "Science and Mechanics" back in the 60's.

Re "real" Damascus steel: I can';t recall at all my chain of thought at the time,but a year or 2 before I read how scientists were re creating Wootz steel,I had already done much the same thing. I bought some annealed HSS steel square bars,and was hammering them only at red heat. VERY hard work. I was hammering them down into thinner square,tapering engraving chisels. The type driven with small hammers. Called "Die Sinker's Chisels" more correctly. I still use them today.

I was over at the Gunsmith Shop letting them try out a few of my chisels. One guy was hammer engraving a groove up the tang of a file. He approached the hardened area of the file. I said to just keep going. The chisel kept on cutting when it was over 1/8" into the hardened part of the file,before the tip broke off! They were duly impressed !

My left shoulder always hurts me 24/7 from tearing out the ligaments first in the 8th. grade boxing,then,a year later digging a ditch to bury water pipe 4' deep in Alaska with a mattock.(Even today I refuse to have a mattock ! I hate the ugly things). So,I hired one of the blacksmiths to hammer me out a bunch more engraving chisels. He complained at how hard the steel was at only red heat! Imagine those poor guys hammering a hockey puck size billet of high carbon steel into a SWORD!! My steel was M33 HSS,and it did decarb some,being heated while unprotected rom the air. I just ground away some of the outer layer when finishing the chisels. They look pretty rough and ready,but they work just fine. The tool steel dies I have posted here were chiseled out with those chisels.

It was said that they air cooled(quenched) this sword by having 2 tall stones close together,with a tall,narrow gap between them,where by the venturi effect,air at fairly high speed would rush when the wind blew,in the right direction.