Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1903-06-26
DISCOVERY OF THE AGE.
j. CasterIine Learns the Secret of
TemperinG steel, That mas Been
Lost for Centuries.

I
B. J. Casterline, of this city,
9 has made discovery more valu
: abe than the mines of Alaska.
:. EEs has learned the wonderful Sc
: c.s that has been lost to man fo1
{ Centuries. By process known
only to him, steel is made so hard
and tough that it will cut ordina-
ry steel as if it were wood. Mr..
, Ca;terline made his discovery
by accident about six months ago,
but he was able to accomplish
such seemingly impossible feats
that he has waited to assure him
self before taking the world into
his confidence. He lacked the
me ans to carry on his expert
haa ats. and he associated himself
i'm the enterprise with some
friends in this city. They sup
piled him with funds to 90 to
Portland to demonstrate to capi-
talists there what he could &C.
complish. Yesterdays Oregoni-
an contains column account of
the feats he performed in that city
in the sAops Of the Suburban
Coal & Ice Co., Wednesday, in
the presence of a number OF ex-
pert workers in steel. 1t says in
part:
He put the razors in an ordi-
nary forge, brought them to
red heat, then opened a box
standing beside him, in which
was a small tank full of liquid,
and dashed them into it. After
again heating them, he dipped
them in water, then ground
them, honed them on an oilstone,
and shaved some hair of his
wrist with them. One blade was
SO thin at the edge that the heat
curled it up like a shaving, and
he ground it down by holding
the edge alright angles to the
grindstone. An ordinary edge
treated thus would have flown to
pieces, but he brought this to an {
even edge, then ground it and ,
honed it. t
Then he showed what can be {
lone with steel tempered by his !
process. He has made a draw l
ng knife and fastened IS. 1
penny steel spike in a vice, with e
his tool he took a shaving off it. b
He handed the knife to the re- S
porter, who felt the edge and S
ound that it had not been turn b
d in in the slightest degree; in
act, it was impossible to tell t.
With which part of the blade the II
having had been made. To fur n
her prove that the edge was not p
fected, he took the same knife e:
nd, without having sharpened it, Ct
haved some hair off his arm ia
nth the greatest ease. All over st
is arms and the backs of his ~
ands are bare spots which he J.
as shaved in testing his tools.
Then he took pocketknife
aving blade tempered by him
Elf and cut shaving from the M
all with it. He drew it three ia
mes across the nail, with the M
1ge at right angles, making th
istinct cut each time, and i'm in
lediately shaved little bunch fo
hair from his arm or hand of
ith the same blade. He re- of
eated this test four times, max fe,
lg in all Is notches in the nail, hi,
ut the knife shaved his hand as
lsily the last as the first time. F.
He has an AK which was taken sol
him with the edge Clipped all nu
Ie way along, SO that it would gr,
lrdly cut mud. He has temper ms
it SO that it cuts steel and is arl
i'll better ak than it ever was tn,
fore he tempered it. He took tai
bar of tool steel, secured it in spt
e vice and then brought down The
g edge of the ak upon it with ed
the power of both his brawnv we
ms. He made cut in the in
eel at least a sixteenth of an ca,
ch deep. The reporter felt the Mi
ge of the AK, and it had not an,
en- turned in The slightest de- ros
ee. It is safe to say that he ma
uld go on chopping until it was COZ
t through, and the ak would
II split wood better than any ak ate
at was ever made. bio
Having seen these things, the abe
oorter's incredulity was dis ed
med when he was told that Mr.. ing
sterline had made cold chisel swt
tn which he could cut saw to a d