Hi Bill,
Many thanks for the photos, I've been experimenting with inlaying copper into steel and what I wanted to see was how the grooves were prepared for inlaying. On European weapons it would appear the groove is undercut using a special tool forming an inverted T so that when the inlay is forced into the space it expands into the T thereby forming an anchor for the metal inlay. From what I can see this is not the case in this blade and internal 'roughness' of the groove is sufficient to grip the inlay if it is laid in with enough force. This is how I have done it and it seems to work very well. Is there any evidence of an adhesive in the groove? I was thinking of possibly a similar substance to that used in India for Tulwar hilts. I also wanted to see how smooth the edges of the grooves were as this is a difficult thing to achieve with hand tools although only really apparent upon close inspection and not terribly noticeable at normal viewing distances. Thanks again for the pictures and would you mind if I copied them into my photo file for future reference?
Regards,
Norman.
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