Crucible steel blades

[Jens Nordlunde]

Thanks Greg,

I seem to remember that it, in some places in Siberia, can be as cold as –70 C during winter, but this is in special places, not everywhere. I have never tried –40 C, only –25 C, and I found that pretty cold, as it always blows where I lived at the time.

From the text it seems as if the Rus’s/Vikings swords had a bigger chance to ‘survive’ than the blades made of crucible steel. I know the description says a softer core and hard edges, but somewhere else I have seen that they also used soft and hard steel forged together.

On page 169 he writes: “Phosphorus affects the hardness as well as giving the iron very pale etching optical properties”. The two authors don’t agree much with the last statement, and earlier in the book they state that al-Biruni is less reliable than al-Kindi, but what about the Phosphorous affect?

If you don’t have the book, maybe you should try to have a look at it in a library – I think toy will like it.

Jens