Hey all,

So earlier this year I decided I wanted to make my own blades using stock removal. I bought all of the equipment needed and have since finished several pieces. Now I'd like them heat treated and tempered. The only problem is, I can't find anyplace or anyone who is able to do it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can solve this? I don't really have the money right now to do anything expensive, so if there's a way I can get the heat treated and tempered that's not too costly, I would love to hear it!

Also, if there is anybody in Maine (or even N.H. or Mass.) who can do this out of their own shop, that would be great.

-Nathan Wuorio

Though it may seem daunting, I would suggest you give it a try yourself. I heat-treated my first knife-blade in a wood fire in a small hole in the ground with a leaf-blower for bellows. If you do it yourself, you will have the satisfaction of being able to say "I made this entirely by myself." Are your blades small knives or are you talking swords? Heat treating becomes exponentially harder to do right as length increases. If you live in an apartment without access to a place where you can make a fire, you may have no choice but to send it out. You may well end up having to send them out of state to get them heat-treated by a serious professional.

P.S. I would love to see pictures of your blades.

Consider that a blade should be vertical, the heat treatment.
I do not recommend do it yourself.

I wouldn't suggest that you use a sword blade that you have 100 hrs invested in for your first heat treatment experiment, but heat treating a knife yourself is really quite easy. Nathan, I would like to see pics or at least hear a description of the blades in question. I think modern people make too big of a deal about heat treatment. Medieval swordmakers set much wider parameters when it came to such things than we do today.

Thanks guys. I actually found a place up in Lewiston, The New England School of Metalwork, that offered to do it for me.

Scott, I am working on several swords right now and one knife. The swords are: A Fulham Gladius based on the one by Albion, a cut and thrust cup hilt rapier of my own design, a custom short sabre based on early American pieces, and a Kabar styled fighting knife for a friend of mine who's going into the Marines.

The Gladius is about halfway done with grinding and I should have pics in a few days, by Tuesday at the latest. I was cutting out the steel for the sabre, during which both of my cutoff wheels broke on me, so that has been stalled until I can get more. I will be uploading pictures of all blades as soon as I can, so no worries!

Thanks again,

-Nathan Wuorio

Wow, Nathan, quite impressive! You don't mess around. Cutting out curved blades with a cut-off wheel can be pretty tricky, ja? I look forward to seeing pics. What kind of steel are you using?

You're telling me! I've been through two cutoff wheels already! I find I can do it if I go wide enough, then grind off the excess material. Right now, I'm using 1080 high carbon, but I'm also trying to get my hands on some 5160 and O1 tool steel. You (or anyone else) wouldn't happen to know of a good steel supplier that sells to knife and sword makers, would you?