Previous studies have attempted to correlate the results of metallography with neutron diffraction studies on the very high-carbon steels used in Oriental blades, and Indian blades from The Wallace Collection, London (which has the most important collection of Indian arms and armour outside the subcontinent). To help our studies, four samples of cast steels of known composition are being made up at the University of Wisconsin. They will be forged into blanks of approximately the size and shapes of swords and then subjected to different heat-treatments, before metallography.Examination by neutron diffraction should allow us to calibrate this technique as a means of estimating carbon contents as well as the different phases present in hypereutectoid steels.This would then (if successful) provide us with a non-invasive means of analysing museum objects.