- Joined
- Jun 5, 2012
- Messages
- 790
My funniest experience did not involve words and the guy was probably a knife person. AT my first show in 2007, some old time picked up a knife from my table and stuck his tongue on the blade to "check the carbon content of the steel"
This quote got me thinking about this. What are some ways to identify the materials used to make a knife without looking it up? Is it really possible to taste carbon in a steel? I can identify aluminum by flicking it and checking for a specific reaction(not sure how else to explain it but I'm sure most of you understand what I'm talking about). I can identify iron, not in steel, because it smells the same as blood. I can identify plastic, rubber, and wood by feeling and looking at it, but can't figure out anything more specific than that. I can also see the difference between stainless steels and carbon steels, but that's about it. Basically, I'd like to be able to find out more than this:
