Hi Pbinns,
While I am presently away from resources I would be glad to look into these things shortly. In the meantime I would confess that my knowledge of the metallurgy of these swords is very limited and I would defer on that topic to Lee Jones, who has done considerable work on such study of these swords and written some outstanding material. There are also a number of extremely qualified members who often address metallurgical topics whom I hope will respond.Possibly using search on this site will reveal answers to many of your questions, and hopefully further discussion here will help us all learn more on this fascinating topic. I hope you will keep us posted on progress OK?
All the best,
Jim