Posts: 208 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Wed 30 Apr, 2008 9:09 pm
Tim Harris wrote: |
My plan, such as it is, was to try the way it was done for generations: get the blade to an even red, quench, clean up, heat to temper colour, quench again. Getting an even heat was always the problem. |
Hi Tim,
I'd love to see how you go with this. Personally I've only ever quenched knives for the same reason. I've never even bothered to attempt a sword because I haven't had the time or commitment to build the necessary equipment to get an even temperature along the blade.
I'm seriously considering a falchion project in the not too distant future and I'd like to see how other people would approach the task of hardening. I'd love to come see your setup once you get it working. I don't know of too many people in this part of the world doing these types of things.
Anyway, good luck with the DIY hardening. I find this type of approach much more interesting than having it commercially done.
Darren.
Posts: 1,903 Location: Toronto
Thu 01 May, 2008 2:19 pm
Doug Lester wrote: |
J.D., cutting water bottles shows good blade geometry and good cutting technique. If you go to cut a bottle full of water and you knock it into the next yard, something is deffinantly wrong. You either have poor blade geometry or your technique is off. That is why the water bottle cut is used in some knife cutting competitions, it's a test of the knifemaker's manufacturing and cutting skills. |
Got you Doug, but if one wants to create a reasonable facsimile of what, for example, an 11th century Norman sword would normally encounter in battle, what would you recommend? (Barring asking your buddy to don a padded mail hauberk).
There is so much talk for and against things like tires etc. on the internet, and so much 'test to destruction' stuff coming out on other web forums, I'm not clear if there is an accepted standard for what a 'well tempered' historically accurate sword should be able to endure. Even within one sword type and era (see type XV above), opinions seem to differ widely.
BTW, I quite enjoyed learning about austinite etc.
Posts: 168 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Thu 01 May, 2008 4:22 pm
Hi Darren,
PM me through these forums and we'll work something out.
Cheers
Tim
D. Austin wrote: |
[Hi Tim,
I'd love to see how you go with this. Personally I've only ever quenched knives for the same reason. I've never even bothered to attempt a sword because I haven't had the time or commitment to build the necessary equipment to get an even temperature along the blade.
I'm seriously considering a falchion project in the not too distant future and I'd like to see how other people would approach the task of hardening. I'd love to come see your setup once you get it working. I don't know of too many people in this part of the world doing these types of things.
Anyway, good luck with the DIY hardening. I find this type of approach much more interesting than having it commercially done.
Darren. |
Posts: 167 Location: Decatur, IL
Thu 01 May, 2008 6:37 pm
I really don't know what would be a good test to show that a sword could stand up to the stress and strain of a sword in any century. We can't use condemned criminal as were used in anchient Japan. Maybe a big chunk of meat with a bone in it with various types of armour over it. I haven't read anywhere how the old bladesmiths proofed their blades in Europe.
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