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Thread: Thiers Issard grades
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11-01-2006, 12:14 AM #22
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Thanked: 995Originally Posted by JLStorm
The most likely use, is to austenitize the steel, put all the carbon into solution and quench from that temperature. A molten bath, whether lead or high temperature salts (my choice, dangerous but not from nasty fumes) will be very easy to control temperature wise and reduce the risk of grain growth and other problems occuring when the austenitizing temperature is overshot. Frankly, the steel doesn't really care which method, of them all, is used.
The real purpose of both the graphite and lead (and so will molten salt baths) is to prevent oxidation at that temperature (scale formation). This is very desirable for production because the blade can be nearly completely polished and subsequently heat treated without any further grinding to clean up the steel.
The problems in production are the lead fumes that will cause nervous system issues. So the Euro equivalent of OSHA comes in to play. The steel, if finished sufficiently well, will not pick up any lead in quantity and unless someone is daring enough to routinely lick their blades, doubtful that enough will be ingested to make any difference. We're all nuts enough using straight razors to shave with eh?