Metallography is just one more method of analysis in getting what I often refer to as the big picture. What we are doing with all the thermal and mechanical treatments on our steel leave it in a certain condition, trying to determine the exact nature of that condition is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle to make out the details of this picture it represents. If all you want to do is make a reliable knife then you don’t need every puzzle piece to get an idea of where you are at. But if you want to really get into every property you are messing with in the steel you need more and more pieces of the puzzle to make out more of the picture.
The more variables you have to contend with, the more pieces of the puzzle you need. Many people feel that digital controllers and using known steels with exact chemistry are for geeks like me who insist on most of the puzzle, but in fact it is the guys who work with only portions of the puzzle that need tighter controls with less variables; I can handle quite a few more variables and mysteries by being able to see more of them.
In experimenting I often get odd Rockwell readings. That test only gives me a number for a specific property (just one piece of the puzzle) but it can’t tell me why I got that number; the microscope can then fill in a large chunk of the puzzle and help explain the numbers. But all of them will remain unrelated bits if you don’t have the most powerful puzzle solving tool of all- the knowledge to interpret all the results.
Interpretation of the results is the key to it all. One of the biggest pitfalls and the source of the vast majority of misinformation in our business is misinterpretation of the results, and tests that give us very small pieces are easy to misinterpret. And, of course, when pieces that don’t even go to our puzzle get mixed in misinterpretation is inevitable.
That's encouraging Kevin, thanks. Sometimes I have asked the right questions of the wrong people and ending up with both of us looking like stubborn mules. I'm learning to pick my battles a bit better
As it probably quite evident, I love questions of all kinds. Well all kinds except one, I don’t appreciate insincere questions, the ones people ask when they already have the only answer they want and will dismiss any information that doesn’t fit that template. Indeed the only thing learned in that situation is how stubborn we can be.
