SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 1 WHUT IZZIT NUMBER 312 DECEMBER 2003 [excerpts] by Bernard Levine www.knife-expert.com In the October and November columns I discussed a butcher knife marked J. AMES/ SILVER STEEL. It was made in the Massapoag Works in Sharon, Massachusetts. In October I wrote, "'Silver Steel,' or 'Silver Combined With Steel,' was sometimes stamped on English razors of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Was silver really added to the alloy mix? I doubt it, but the only way to find out would be to sacrifice a piece of a 'silver steel' blade, and have it vaporized and analyzed. Does anybody have such a blade (preferably a rough relic) they are willing to sacrifice? I will pay for the analysis..." Our editor, Mr. Mark Zalesky, was quick to volunteer a blade, from a well used razor marked JAMES JOHNSON/ SILVER STEEL. But then, when I tried calling Metal Analysis, Inc., the southern California firm which had spectro-analyzed a razor blade for me some years ago, I found that it had evidently gone out of business. Soon afterwards, however, Mr. Bob Johnston of Pennsylvania, an analytical chemist who has helped Knife World several times before (in the study of deteriorating Celluloid, in the choice of solvents for cleaning blades, and in determining the composition of "Japanese sword oil"), stepped up to save the day. He wrote: "PLEASE don't destroy any antique knives in an effort to check for silver. I have a Spectro X-Lab 2000 Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer in my laboratory, and I would be happy to analyze one knife or one hundred knives at no cost to you, other than shipping. "Unlike arc-spark or other methods, EDXRF is a completely non- destructive technique; even the patina won't be disturbed. The report will show the percentage of every element from magnesium [atomic number 12] to uranium [atomic number 92] on the periodic SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 2 table. The instrument chamber should be able to accommodate knives up to 10 inches long." The only down-side to this high-tech test is that it does not measure the content of carbon [atomic number 6], the element which is alloyed with iron [atomic number 26] to form steel. Of course carbon must be part, indeed most, of the percentage unaccounted for in the EDXRF totals. As soon as Mr. Zalesky had read this offer, he sent Mr. Johnston a diverse group of nine razors and two knives to test. Here is the list. (#1) JAMES / JOHNSON / SILVER STEEL - razor, no handle (#2) J. AMES / SILVER STEEL - shoe knife [American] (#3) J. SANGER / CAST STEEL - butcher knife [American] (#4) J... / JO... / SILVE... (probably James Johnson Silver Steel) - mottled horn handle (blade etched "Patent Razor") (#5) JOSEPH ELLIOTT'S / CELEBRATED RAZOR - genuine stag handle (stamped out on blade V (crown) R / UNIVERSALLY APPROVED / BEST SILVER STEEL) (#6) V (crown) R / FINE SILVER STEEL - smooth bone with nickel silver inlays (#7) W (crown) R / GEO. HAMMOND / SILVER STEEL - smooth bone with pique work (#8) ?UPE SILV STEEL / T. ASCHER / SHEFFIELD - dark horn (#9) SILVER STEEL / WARRANTED - dark horn (blade faintly etched "Washington, The Champion of Liberty") (#10) JAMES JOHNSON'S / SUPERIOR SILVER STEEL / FITZWILLIAM STREET / SHEFFIELD (and stamped out on blade WARRANTED GOOD) - no handle (#11) JOSEPH / ELLIOTT - no handle (stamped out on blade SILVER STEEL) SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 3 SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 2 SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 3 A chart of the test results is included on the following page. ND means "None Detected," less than 9 parts per million. The elements shown are: Si = Silicon Cr = Chromium Mn = Manganese Fe = Iron Co = Cobalt Ni = Nickel Cu = Copper Zn = Zinc Ag = Silver Not shown are magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), phosphorus (P), and lead (Pb), which were present in some of the blades. Not measurable by this method are carbon (C) and oxygen (O), which were both certainly present (oxygen in the patina). SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 4 SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 3 SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 4 Element No Shoe knife Butcher Horn Stag handle Bone Bone Horn handle Horn handle No handle No handle Handle *J.Ames* knife handle Joseph Elliot handle handle with Silver Steel James Silver Steel J.Sanger J- Jo— Celebrated with shield Warranted Silv- Steel James Joseph Johnson Cast Steel Silve… Razor shield Geo. George Johnsons Elliot Silver- Universally Hammond Washington etch Superior Steel Approved Silver Steel T. Ascher Fine Silver Steel Best Silver Sheffield Silver Silver Fitzwilliam Steel Steel on Steel Street blade Sheffield Al 0.09 ND 0.35 0.08 0.11 0.18 3.80 0.23 0.19 1.90 0.30 Si 0.26 0.21 0.64 0.13 0.26 0.22 0.5 0.34 0.26 0.45 1.10 Cr 0.19 0.07 0.02 0.04 0.05 0.03 0.04 ND 0.04 ND 0.02 Mn 0.65 0.22 0.09 0.05 0.08 0.09 0.08 0.15 0.77 0.07 0.08 Fe 98.05 98.7 97.75 99.2 99.24 99.18 94.78 98.87 98.28 96.92 97.63 Co 0.31 0.16 0.13 0.18 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.11 0.09 ND 0.10 Ni < 0.01 0.02 ND ND ND ND ND ND ND 0.02 ND Cu 0.15 0.05 0.02 0.13 0.02 ND 0.13 ND 0.03 0.03 0.09 Zn < 0.01 0.08 0.07 ND ND ND 0.04 ND ND 0.01 0.01 Ag ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 5 SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 4 SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 5 The most immediate and obvious result is that there was no silver (Ag) at all detected in any of the blades. In formal logic, one cannot prove a negative. Somewhere out there might be a SILVER STEEL blade that does contain some silver -- maybe even several such blades. But not one of these randomly collected blades contains any silver, which strongly suggests that SILVER STEEL was (as I suspected) just a marketing term -- much like the term SURGICAL STEEL used on some imported Japanese pocketknives in the 1980s. * Like all good experiments, this one answered the original question, but then presented us with several new questions. These blades do not contain any silver, but many of them do contain elements one would not expect to find in a 19th century blade, notably aluminum and silicon. Nowadays small but precise quantities of silicon are added to some blade and tool steels, as we shall see below. But this addition is mid 20th century technology, first made possible by the electric furnace which was introduced to the steel industry in 1907. As to aluminum, there is no good reason to add it to blade steel, and plenty of good reason not to. Moreover, prior to 1886, aluminum could only be refined at great expense, and was much more costly than silver, and even than gold or platinum. Indeed aluminum was only first isolated in 1825 or 1827, despite being the commonest metallic element on Earth. * Before the tests, I asked Mr. Johnston if perhaps the patina on the blades might distort the results. He replied, "There probably aren't really any contaminants in the patina. I would expect the patina to mainly consist of iron oxide [rust], maybe mixed with skin oil (fingerprints) over many years of use, or organic residue from the sheath [or handle], or other things of that nature. Skin oil would leave some traces of chlorine and maybe sulfur and phosphorus in the patina, but we could ignore these. Organic residue isn't detected by X-Ray spectroscopy [the defining elements of organic compounds are too light: hydrogen SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 6 SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 5 SILVER STEEL from “Whut Izzit” KNIFE WORLD Magazine ©2003 ©2004 page 6 (atomic number 1), carbon (6), and oxygen (8)]. Anyway, since the X-ray beam penetrates into the steel, overall the surface (patina) represents only a small percentage of the metal being analyzed." * Afterwards, when considering the high readings for aluminum and silicon, he offered this possible explanation. "If the blades were cleaned at any time with an abrasive that contains aluminum oxide, such as emery paper or maybe a cream polish, then aluminum oxide could have become embedded in the steel surface and that's why we're seeing so much in the x-ray spectrum... The numbers would be highly inflated since the aluminum from the polishing agents would be concentrated at the surface of the metal, and the x-ray beam doesn't penetrate very far... The only way to know if that's what happened would be to heavily clean the surface with steel wool to remove it, and I don't think we really want to do that.