Metallurgy of steel for bladesmiths

[Alcyoneus]

From the Calonlist:

This comes from a metalsmithing list I read. (Avery, how'd I beat you
to
this?)

John Verhoeven, a professor emeritus from Iowa State wrote an entire
text
(~200 pages) about the metallurgy of steel, oriented toward
bladesmiths.
The author assumes no special background by the reader, so the material
is
very accessible.

Ordinarily, most of this material requires a significant investment in
background before it can be understood. I've spent much of the last
year
developing my own background in the area, and wishing helplessly that
this
text existed. Those few of you who have had some instruction from me
into
heat treatment of steel certainly know how much background there is to
know!

Dr. Verhoeven also knows his target audience very well. For example,
he
explains grain structure by using a bottle filled with large soap
bubbles
as his 3D model, and notes that "Perhaps a more pleasant way to model
metal grains is to empty a glass of beer rapidly as is illustrated in
Fig.
8.1(b)." I don't think you'll find that explanation in your average
engineering materials textbook!

Finally, and most important, the author includes the following, which I
quote directly from the preface:

"My professional career has been supported by publicly funded
institutions. Therefore, I grant any user copyright permission to
download and print a copy of this book for personal use or any teacher
to
do the same for their students. I do not grant rights to the text for
commercial uses. The copyrights to all figures with citations belong to
the original publishers. Copyright permissions were obtained for
inclusion
of these figures."

That's right, it's free!

As a developing bladesmith, my enthusiasm for this text cannot be
overstated. I want to find this man and have his babies.

Share and enjoy!

http://mse.iastate.edu/files/verhoeven/7-5.pdf

-Francis Bean
-MKA Mike Wilson

[polarbearforge]

It is a good read. While at was at ISU, I had the chance a few times to speak with him about steel. Very informative.

Jamie