> ... carbon steel ... stainless steel ... Thanks for all the replies about fine wood cutting tools.
However, there's still something I don't understand. Scalpel blades (that I've seen) appear made from stainless steel. Why wouldn't a surgeon prefer a sharper blade made from carbon steel? I ask on the assumption that such a blade would not dull appreciably during a 1-3 hour operation, and its extra cost would be neglible compared to the total cost of the operation. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
