Identifying mystery steels

[Forrest Taylor]

I have two bars of annealed steel. They are either A2 or D2. Anyway to find out which is which?
I'm thinking maybe try lemon juice or something similar to stain them. Seems like the D2 would be more stain resistant?
Thoughts?

 

[N.W. Gean]

If nothing else, maybe you could try heat treating a few coupons with the A2 and D2 recipes and see how the steel responds.

 

[Mecha]

You can do an olfactory assessment and lick test. The one that's more foul-smelling and tastes nasty should be D2.

 

[Forrest Taylor]

Problem solved, I found the packaging the bars came in.

 

[Mecha]

Problem solved, I found the packaging the bars came in.

Nice. Now you can do the tests and see if I was right or not.

 

[Forrest Taylor]

Or maybe I can get my wife to try it.
Nah, probably not.

 

[Mecha]

Or maybe I can get my wife to try it.
Nah, probably not.

Smell and lick the steel bars, sir. Everyone wants to know the results.

 

[N.W. Gean]

Smell and lick the steel bars, sir. Everyone wants to know the results.

You suggested the method, wouldn't you know the results already?

 

[Storm W]

If anyone can tell the difference between M2 and M4 at 66 Rc I would love to know.

 

[3fifty7]

Forrest Taylor

Smell and lick the steel bars, sir. Everyone wants to know the results.

 

[Mecha]

You suggested the method, wouldn't you know the results already?

We need more data points.

 

[N.W. Gean]

We need more data points.

You're right! We also need to know if hardened steel tastes different, and to what degree. Think of the money saved on RC testers if we can taste 62 vs 63 RC!

 

[Mecha]

You're right! We also need to know if hardened steel tastes different, and to what degree. Think of the money saved on RC testers if we can taste 62 vs 63 RC!

Just some background on the licking of steels:

There is a real job of professional ice cream taster. Probably among the best jobs I can imagine. The professional ice cream taster uses a spoon made of gold, because being a super noble metal, it imparts no taste itself. The ice cream taster can strongly taste a stainless steel spoon and it contaminates the ice cream taste test. A job as noble as ice cream taster requires a noble metal for the tasting tool.

I had a knife made of 01 and it smelled. It was actually pretty rank, and I have no idea why. I washed it and used it but the smell never quite went away. Eventually I noticed that some steels smell slightly differently when they are ground or welded, and in time found the same to be true of titanium and copper alloys.

In this absolutely epic @Larrin thread back in the day in GKD, the discussion erupted into a flame war and eventually devolved into members licking and tasting various knife blades. That thread made me wonder if it might be possible to train a dog to sniff out different alloys.

With that in mind, if the OP would simply lick the two steels and report back on any perceived difference, we would have another data point of sorts.

 

[Forrest Taylor]

They're both D2.

 

[Richard338]

Just some background on the licking of steels:

There is a real job of professional ice cream taster. Probably among the best jobs I can imagine. The professional ice cream taster uses a spoon made of gold, because being a super noble metal, it imparts no taste itself. The ice cream taster can strongly taste a stainless steel spoon and it contaminates the ice cream taste test. A job as noble as ice cream taster requires a noble metal for the tasting tool.

I had a knife made of 01 and it smelled. It was actually pretty rank, and I have no idea why. I washed it and used it but the smell never quite went away. Eventually I noticed that some steels smell slightly differently when they are ground or welded, and in time found the same to be true of titanium and copper alloys.

In this absolutely epic @Larrin thread back in the day in GKD, the discussion erupted into a flame war and eventually devolved into members licking and tasting various knife blades. That thread made me wonder if it might be possible to train a dog to sniff out different alloys.

With that in mind, if the OP would simply lick the two steels and report back on any perceived difference, we would have another data point of sorts.

It ain't a crime to be good to yourself (lick it up)

 

[N.W. Gean]

Just some background on the licking of steels:

There is a real job of professional ice cream taster.

With that in mind, if the OP would simply lick the two steels and report back on any perceived difference, we would have another data point of sorts.

I honestly couldn't tell if there was sarcasm in your original post or not I suppose different elements such as vanadium or chromium could taste different.

 

[jiggyfly16]

Just some background on the licking of steels:

There is a real job of professional ice cream taster. Probably among the best jobs I can imagine. The professional ice cream taster uses a spoon made of gold, because being a super noble metal, it imparts no taste itself. The ice cream taster can strongly taste a stainless steel spoon and it contaminates the ice cream taste test. A job as noble as ice cream taster requires a noble metal for the tasting tool.

I had a knife made of 01 and it smelled. It was actually pretty rank, and I have no idea why. I washed it and used it but the smell never quite went away. Eventually I noticed that some steels smell slightly differently when they are ground or welded, and in time found the same to be true of titanium and copper alloys.

In this absolutely epic @Larrin thread back in the day in GKD, the discussion erupted into a flame war and eventually devolved into members licking and tasting various knife blades. That thread made me wonder if it might be possible to train a dog to sniff out different alloys.

With that in mind, if the OP would simply lick the two steels and report back on any perceived difference, we would have another data point of sorts.

 

[Mecha]

They're both D2.

So they tasted the same, then.

I honestly couldn't tell if there was sarcasm in your original post or not I suppose different elements such as vanadium or chromium could taste different.

A lot of what I say is a virtually untangleable knot of straight-faced sarcasm, obscure facts, wild suppositions, pseudoscientific theory, provocative analysis, unassailable truth, and straight horse shit.

Do various alloys taste or smell different? Definitely sometimes, depending. Can someone learn to distinguish similar alloys by taste? Possibly maybe, but highly doubtful. Did I want the OP to taste the steels and report back? Absolutely.

There it is!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Hardly anyone on this thread will remember the show "Family Affair". Sebastian Cabot was a very proper butler/cook named Mr. French. Due to an accident, he and his carefree bachelor employer had three young children thrust upon the household. He was not used to children.
He was making a salad and tearing each leaf carefully. The little girl, Buffy, asked why he tore the lettuce and he explained that cutting it with a metal knife would make it taste bad. She innocently asked why the metal bowl didn't make it taste bad. He shooed her out of the kitchen, and after she was gone picked up the bowl and looked in it with a curious look.

 

[Cushing H.]

Hardly anyone on this thread will remember the show "Family Affair". Sebastian Cabot was a very proper butler/cook named Mr. French. Due to an accident, he and his carefree bachelor employer had three young children thrust upon the household. He was not used to children.
He was making a salad and tearing each leaf carefully. The little girl, Buffy, asked why he tore the lettuce and he explained that cutting it with a metal knife would make it taste bad. She innocently asked why the metal bowl didn't make it taste bad. He shooed her out of the kitchen, and after she was gone picked up the bowl and looked in it with a curious look.
View attachment 1572710

Lol ... now that you mention it, I remember that specific episode. That was a fun show to watch ...