"One of the items I ordered was Inconel-X, I received a 3-inch diameter cylindrical billet of the material and took it to the machine shop to have a 3-inch piece cut off to make a bearing. The shop foreman fired up a band saw and started to cut the billet. He only managed to make a small groove in the billet before the cutting action stopped. The Inconel-X had destroyed the saw teeth in just a few seconds. The foreman then tried a large power hacksaw. Those saw teeth also disappeared. I then foolishly suggested he try cutting a chunk off with a cutting torch. He fired up his cutting torch and within a couple minutes we had a billet of metal that looked like taffy."

At the Edge of Space: the X-15 Flight Program