hello everyone tonight,

Thanks for all your help--the pipe suggestion sounds intriguing
I believe I will try that route first and see what happens

I was thinking of heating up a piece of good high carbon tool steel and then quenching it in water to obtain a really tough cutting edge

You know back a few years ago I had to produce a cone shaped bearing for the grist mill,s grinding stone to spin on

This stones weighs approx. 1000 lbs and spins at about 125 rpm

it took 2 tries but in the end the machinist produced one that has stood the wear now since 1984 and still going

He used a high carbon steel blank to create the cone shape and then fired it to a very high temperature, he then immersed it in a cool liquid I believe water or oil and told me not to drop it or it would shatter like glass it was so hard

Just food for thought--this bearing also had a turned mate for it to sit in, and it sat in a cast iron box about 4 inches square there is about a cup of oil for lubrication- the spinning cone being so hard produces no noticeable frictional heat and needs very little attention

You see we don't need carbide just good knowledge of metal to produce hardness, it was this process that was in the back of my mind

Anyway I am going to use your suggestion first and then go from there

Always yours
Richard--NH--