Wood retification was orginally done by caveman to harden the sharpened tip of their spears. They wrapped the spear in wet leaves and placed it in the fire. The leaves sealed out the oxygen and allowed the wood to char without actually burning up, resulting in an incredibly hard bit of wood.ricosound wrote:I must be as dense as the Maple you refer - I have no idea what you're talking about with the spear sharpening. I do appreciate however the subtle changes made to the product over time that do not detract from the heritage of same.
The modern process doesn't involve any wet leaves but the basic idea is the same- burn the wood without access to air.
