In comaprison to John's suggestion to flex a hacksaw blade below,

I'm fairly certain what would happen if I were to take a 1/8"x1/2"
(cross-sectional dimension) x 4" length of HSS, which could be a
cutoff/parting blade, and attempt to bow it so that it deflects even 1/8" in
the center.

Uri Geller could do it. (Ahhh ****, I dunno why I even remembered that name
correctly)

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


"John Martin" wrote in message
...

snippings

Take almost any carbon steel hack saw blade. Bend it double, and roll
the bend around a bit. Listen carefully while you do it, and you just
may hear the cracking sounds as the blade cracks at the gullets.
Without cracking completely across. How can it do that? Since it's
solid carbon steel, shouldn't the entire blade by your logic have the
brittle characteristics that the tooth edge does?

Shouldn't it be impossible to make a spring from the very same
material you make a brittle cutting blade from? But you can do that,
can't you? So, maybe it's similarly possible to heat treat HSS to get
a wide range of characteristics, just as you can with the high carbon
steel.

I accept that it is logical because it is, to me, just that.
Logical. Not sure what it might take to convince you, though.

John Martin