That is the real issue. I remember reading that the steel that was used for Jim Bowie's famous knife was from a meteorite.

So, what are the heat treat specs for a meteorite?

I have a sheet metal shop but by no means do I consider myself a blacksmith. That being said, I enjoy collecting old sheet metal books from the past. I have found that some of the texts from the 1800s have terms that we do not use today as well as the projects that were presented to apprentices, that most folks today could not do due to their lack of mathematics knowledge. I find this interesting in large part as we think ourselves so smart today but when I see the 1800's knowledge I am ashamed at how much we have lost. I'm guilty as well in a small part as I used to could do all my equations in my head but was largely ruined by constant use of the calculator.

Norman Conquest:

Near to my indoor shooting club, on the same industrial estate, was an old guy, now gone ten years plus, that did welding and fabrication. I remember him telling me about his apprenticeship and the one inch cube.

Apparently it wasn't just the stuff of urban myth, but true. They were given a two inch or so size cube of steel and, without using a milling machine had to use hacksaw and file told to produce a perfect one inch steel cube.

He said that his fellow starters would take these things up to be inspected as they progressed and there was a often repeated "No good. Get another piece and start again." Followed by the metallic clunk of the rejected piece landing in the scrap bin.

Once the old guy retired the son took it on but by then work was scarce. He ended up doing time in prison as he allowed his work unit to be converted to be used for growing cannabis.

Not sold

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/nat...iew-Thumbnail-071515

I saw these pistols at the SHOT Show a few years ago. Very interesting to say the least. Beautiful patterns in the steel.

If I remember right, there are 3 kinds of meteors. The iron meteor is made up of all iron and nickel. Seems you would have to know the amount of each to make something out of it?

I read recently where some rock star whose name I can't remember was/is a big Alamo fan + managed to buy Jim Bowie's knife + then donated it to the Alamo Museum in San Antonio. However, I dought seriously that the DTR would allow any tests being done on this artifact.