[Jared Smith]

I am wondering if any of the sword junkies here know of evidence of historical "edge" and tip quenching of European migration era swords. The authors of the article I linked below seem to consider it possible, although it would have been more of a rapid cool than a true quench. A chart on hardness measurements of cross sectional hardness at different lengths along a sword found in what is considered a 9th century grave suggests higher hardness near the tip and edges. My guess at the Vickers hardness scale range would be that the hardness varies from around 20 Rockwell C to near 30 Rockwell C. Unfortunately, the cutting edges are corroded away.. so edge hardening is a speculation based on the fact that it should be possible given the metallurgy and phases seen in the examination.

"Metallography of the 9th Century Sword of a Great Moravian", Hosek Jiri, and Kosta Jiri. http://metalurgija.org.rs/mjom/vol12/No%202-3/11Hosek.pdf

This was a pretty good article, and I was surprised how high the carbon content was, and how close the selection of the piled construction materials (near 1% nickel in some of the center sections) was to current modern pattern welding examples. (This was more in the Ulfbert tradition where there was no ornamental twisting of alternating nickel-plain carbon layers noted.. I would guess the central fuller would show linear lines where the fuller cut through alternating thickness of nickel and plain carbon layers.)

[Robin Smith]

Ohhh, thanks for finding the English Translation of that article. I only have the original, and had to have Google translate it...

Here is a similar article about the Nemilany Ulfberth. The construction is strikingly similar, with a core of 0.4-0.6%C and edges reaching up to 0.8%. They mention that the forte is left in "its natural state", but that the tip is "tempered at the right temperature to increase hardness"

http://www.starahut.com/AT/at13/05%20Konzerva...+%2006.pdf

Sorry, I don't have an English Translation, but Google will give you an okay emough translation to understand

Alan Williams documents a number of swords from this period that show evidence of quenching and most it seems that only the end was quenched. I know have some other articles I can dig for, but I gotta look...