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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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 Posted: Fri 11 Dec, 2009 1:40 pm Post subject: Bamburgh sword 12 bar composite |
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Hello All,
Several years ago (well in the 60's really) a sword fragment was found in Bamburgh, UK and I learned about it a few years back. Some info on the 7th century find is simple to get with a web search for "Bamburgh Sword".
This is my take on the 12 bar that it may be.
Do keep in mind that the famed Sutton Hoo sword at the British Museum is but a mere eight bar (four on each side).
I do not know of another 12 bar out there made up by a modern smith..nor possibly and ancient one either for that matter.
Here are the six bars of wrought iron for one side and the six bars for the other layed out ready for cold assembly
That center flat sheet is for the core. The twist series is more complex than it appears.
Welded
Preparing the 20 layer twisted cutting edge from 15N20 and 1080
Cutting edge wrapped around the 12 bar core ready for welding
Welded
Me with the billet which will be forged out into a proper sword blade when I get a client interested in it.
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Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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J Helmes
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Fri 11 Dec, 2009 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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wow! I cant wait to see this progress. I see you mention that the core billets are wrought. are they just bars or iron or are they laminated billets of iron containing iron from different sources?
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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sat 12 Dec, 2009 6:11 am Post subject: |
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J.
It was some rather nice wrought iron plate from the 1860's.
In the future I will make pieces like this from bloomery iron/steel I smelt here in the shop.
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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J Helmes
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sat 12 Dec, 2009 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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I will very much enjoy seeing those Ric.
thank you for sharing.
cheers Jeff
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Ben Sweet
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| Posted: Mon 14 Dec, 2009 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Ric for taking the time to share these with us!
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Matthew Stagmer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Tue 15 Dec, 2009 9:17 am Post subject: |
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You have done it again my friend. 12 bar. Wow. Hard enough to keep the lines clena on a 3 bar. Should be fantastic!
Matthew Stagmer
Maker of custom and production weaponry
Youtube.com/ThatWorks
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Paul Hansen
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| Posted: Wed 16 Dec, 2009 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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Awesome work Ric! I look forward to seeing the finished blade. There must be somebody with both the interest and money?
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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Thu 17 Dec, 2009 5:43 am Post subject: |
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I would prefer to do the fittings up similar to those found in the recent Staffordshire Hoard with either enamel or stone set in gold. There are other good examples of such work from other hoards as well.
This would be both proper given the time period and rather striking.
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Mon 21 Jun, 2010 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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Hello All,
I put together a short video montage of the forging of this composite blade.
There are some new photos not included before as well as some more information and some old blades I saw at the British Museum.
http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Work_in_progress.html
I believe it illustrates the forging process quite well.
Enjoy,
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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Jared Smith
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| Posted: Tue 22 Jun, 2010 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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I am excited about the fact that you made the cutting edge from twisted laminate. It generally outperforms linear in terms of slicing performance in my opinion. (Hard to explain, but the weld zones form high concentrations of hard carbides at boundaries. These end up in the cutting edge when you twist a billet!)
I am wondering if you, or a researcher, assessed the original as having twisted material in its cutting edge?
Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence!
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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Tue 22 Jun, 2010 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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Hello Jared,
Most of the cutting edges were straight grain, not twisted.
I am not aware of weld zones forming carbides any more so than any other portion of the billet. Where did you locate that information?
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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Tim Lison
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| Posted: Tue 22 Jun, 2010 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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Looks like it'll be a beauty when it's done. How long is it? It looks a bit short.....How will you hilt it? I don't see a tang... Am I just not looking hard enough?
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Jared Smith
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| Posted: Tue 22 Jun, 2010 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Richard Furrer wrote: |
I am not aware of weld zones forming carbides any more so than any other portion of the billet. Where did you locate that information?
Ric |
There are two or three technical papers (Verhoeven and a couple of others) by researchers who sectioned and examined some modern pattern welded samples. I am sure that I can locate and forward at least one paper from my external hard drive to you if you send me your email. My "two bar composite" of two twists welded together on the show off your home made blades thread also illustrates this qualitatively. (Two twisted 100 layer bars ground to somewhat rectangular shape and welded yielded a pure nickle weld seam similar to a "feather pattern".... the twisted alloys rearranged at the weld zone. ) The carbon does in general diffuse, but not evenly at the weld zone. Carbon piles up as a high concentration of cementite or carbides (roughly equivalent to ceramic particles embedded in the material) in a region within about 15 microns near each high-lo nickel layer transition. The weld zone is generally a layer of high nickel or low carbon plain iron with heavy concentrations of cementite just beside it. If you compare slicing or drawing action of some tightly twisted material, versus straight laminate formed from the same bar against some tough and thick leather, you can easily tell the difference subjectively. It seems to become pronounced ( would match a "just sharp" twisted edge versus a hair shaving sharp straight laminate edge any day) such that it is great fun to give comparative examples to youth and adults unfamiliar with the performance aspects of it and watch their jaws drop when they test cut with 100+ layer tightly twisted edge material.
Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence!
Last edited by Jared Smith on Tue 22 Jun, 2010 7:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Tue 22 Jun, 2010 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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Hello Tim,
The hilt will be settled, along with the final size, when a client shows interest. Presently it is bar waiting to be told what type of sword it will become.
Below the video there on my webpage are two examples of old blades which would benefit from this form of pattern-weld.
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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This is a standard topic