[TheForge] bronze age and knifemaker questions

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

last night i watched an episode of midsomer murders season 15 episode 03
, "Written In The Stars". I will not go into to the whole plot line, i
do however have several questions concerning the plot which do relate to 
blacksmithing and metal working.

three people were killed with various bronze age objects.
bronze age britain spanned from c. 2,500 until c. 800 BC.

the first was killed with a large iron-nickel meteorite weighing in at 
several kilograms. irregular in shape so not something that one could
easily throw a short distance . this meteorite was used to split the
skull of the first victim.

a bronze age spear tip was used to kill the second victim. the bronze
age spear tip was attached to a slender wooden shaft and thrown like a
javelin into the victim's breastplate piercing the left ventrical nearly
killing the victim instantly.

a bronze age disc alledged to be around 600 BC was stolen from a museum
and the murderer sharpened/honed the age of the bronze disk to quote 
"a razor edge". this disc was thrown like a frisbee and embedded itself
in the front of the neck of the third victim.

several thoughts concerning the objects used.

several kilogram iron-nickel meteorites are not that common I cannot
imagine that they are that readily available. particularly with the
date given that the meteorite was found. i would assume that any large
metallic "rocks" would be of great interest to the local blacksmith.
they would like to have some new source of metal to use. so just how
many of the iron-nickel meteorites would have survived to the present
day?

a bronze spear tip does not have to be that sharp if it is thrown with
enough force

the bronze disc raises the most questions. can a bronze age disc be
given a "razor edge" through sharpening and honing? Would it be able
to keep the edge for any period of time.

i have never worked much with bronze but i have trouble imagining a
bronze age object being able to be honed to a "razor edge" sharp
enough to nearly take the head off a person if they are hit in the
neck. much would rely on the person wielding such a weapon.

how precise is their control?
how much energy can they impart to the disc?
how much does the disc weigh?
how much "spin" does the disc have in flight?

so my questions are:

what are the properties of the metal that are desired for it to be honed
to a "razor edge" and to be able to keep that edge for some reasonable
period of time?

-- 
terry l. ridder ><>