pearlite

I believe in Ed Caffrey's "Basic Bladesmithing" DVD he suggested that as a substitute to vermiculite, but mentioned he thinks vermiculite is a better insulator. It also depends on the steel type of course (He was using a hypOeutectoid steel 5160), some can't be annealed in that fashion. I should also mention that his voice was a bit drowned out in the video, so I'm pretty sure that's what he said but can't be certain.. and I'm not sure the spelling of the product, google is only returning results of the metallurgical state of pearlite for me.

Edit: A bit more searching and its Perlite without the A.. http://www.perlite.net/
 
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What steel (not steal, that is what robbers do) are you using? if you are using any hypereuctoid steel (read the stickies on Working with the Three Steel types) you do not want to cool it that slowly or you will form Pearlite (the metallurgical type where the carbon precipitates out in solid solution forming little laminar carbides in the grain boundaries which make your metal brittle, yet since they are suspended in ferrite the steel will seem soft until you ruin your drillbits trying to drill it)

-Page
 
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