A guy called Frank Richtig made knives from the 30s to the 70s using a heat treatment that’s never been replicated. He would do demonstrations where he’d use a hammer and a knife to cut through steel, and then use that same knife to slice through paper as if nothing had happened.

even heavily worn knives fetch a high price these days.

bad trips can be really really enlightening. i got the cliché “i am so tiny and the universe is so big” and it changed the way i think about things on a fundamental level.