people have been heat-treating for a *loonnng* time!

Fire hardening of wooden spear tips predates stone tools by many more thousands of years.
"We stand on the shoulders of those who come before us."
Unlike today, only the best and brightest survived back then.
 
Yes, fire hardened hickory, quenched in the belly of a cave bear was the high tech of the ice age. ( not that last small cold snap, but the big one 130,000 to 180,000 years ago)
Stacy
 
bladsmth said:
Yes, fire hardened hickory, quenched in the belly of a cave bear was the high tech of the ice age. ( not that last small cold snap, but the big one 130,000 to 180,000 years ago)
Stacy
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And just think, you could have just put it outside overnight for a cryo treatment back then :thumbup:
 
Many have never heard of fire hardening wood. A friend was using wood that I had fire hardened .He said 'why is this so hard ??'. I laughed and explained the process !
 
I had some pieces of desert ironwood laying on the counter when the house fire happened. The sides that were exposed turned black. Wonder if it is any harder. How would you tell, its so hard to start with
 
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