[TheForge] Cheese is cold-short!

[newenglandforge at aol.com]

Sulfur is most often an intentional addition to steel(s), and not a friend of blacksmiths.  Sulfur, which you can think of as dirt, is added to help when "machining" steel, as it helps the chips breakup and not leave that long stringy chip.  Mike SchermerhornBoston

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce . <freemab222 at gmail.com>
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Fri, Mar 1, 2019 1:42 am
Subject: [TheForge] Cheese is cold-short!

Metals content:
I've been reading recently a book about steel metallurgy.  One chapter
describes how sulfur can cause hot-shortness in steel.  It seems that the
sulfur exists as iron sulfide, which melts at forging temperatures AND wets
and lubricates the grain boundaries, allowing the grains to slip past each
other -- i.e., hot short.
That, in turn, is why manganese is a valuable addition to steel:  the
manganese sulfide (or manganese iron sulfide, whichever it is) is solid at
forging temperatures, so doesn't melt, etc.

All this went through my mind when I finally proved to myself this evening
that when you freeze cheese (and here I'm speculating a bit) the film of
water remaining between the residual curds freezes, breaking the curds
apart.  On thawing, they cling together by one means or another, but any
pressure, or cutting slices from the cheese, results in the curds
separating like enormous steel grains.
Bottom line:  You really don't have to grate cheese ever.  Just freeze it,
then slice it (with or without thawing it first), and you have instant
"grated" cheese.

(You see now why I noted the "metals content" early on?)

Bruce
NJ
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