This is a sword i made for a good friend a couple years ago. It's one of the few i've taken pictures of most of the process of making it. Usually i just zone out and go at it. This sword took me about a week of working late nights after my day job to make. There are many different ways to make swords, this will show you how i made This one.
The process of stock removal in blade making is more modern. With the right materials these blades can hold up pretty well, but the ones i make are mainly for art and decoration, tho. they will hold up to some abuse and are able to be handled. The quality of your sword all depends on the materials you use, the design you make, and the time your willing to put into it.
I've been building on my sword making skills here and there since i was younger. I started out with a hack saw and a file. One day I'd like to make my own forge and actually Forge swords, but for now, this is my method.
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Signing UpStep 1: Safety, Materials and Tools
Before you begin any project remember to protect yourself. Wear Eye Protection, Wear Gloves, and Wear Hearing Protection with loud tools. When welding make sure you use a good welding helmet and thick leather welding gloves, and ear plugs arn't a bad idea, hot sparks in the ear really hurt. Long sleeves or a welding jacket are also a good idea.
More Safety!!!
This method uses grinders, a welder and deals alot with really HOT metal. Be sure to be AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS. Work in a ventillated area. Make sure there is nothing flamable in the area your working in. sparks will fly everywhere and anywhere. Keep a fire extinguisher handy just in case. Also a bucket of water helps to cool pieces your working on because if your welding it, or grinding it, It will be HOT. use pliers or thick leather gloves to pick up pieces that are hot and cool them in water if you need to handle them.
Materials, most of which are pictured below, include:
-1 - 2" x 1/4" x 3' steel bar -( for the blade)
-1 section of 1" x 1/2" steel bar -( for the crossguard)
-1 section of 1/2" round steel stock -(for the claws on the pommel)
-1 1 1/2" round x 1 1'2"long section of round steel bar -( for pommel)
-1 large nut, a little smaller that a trailor hitch ball nut -(for pommel)
-1 old claw foot glass insert ( could probably use a marble or something- (for pommel)
-1 piece of aluminum tubing/pipe, that the glass will fit tightly in, and will fit tightly into the nut used for pommel.
-1 piece of hard wood for the grips of handle.
-2 or 3 small machine screws and nuts for countersinking through wood grips to metal handle part of blade.
- vinyl or leather for wraping the handle.
-quality wire to wrap on handle.
Your materials may vary depending on your design. This is just basicly what i used.
Tools:
I use a wide variety of air, electric, and hand tools. The most expensive tool you could need in this project is a Mig welder. Your project can be as elaborate or simple as you want depending on your design, budget, and what you have to work with.
Here are some of the tools I used in this project:
- workbench with a vice.
- 4 1/2" electric grinder with cutoff wheel, grinder wheel, and sanding disc.
- air angle grinder with 36 - 80 grit discs.
- air dual action sander with 80 - 400 grit paper.
- die grinder with varying deburring bits.
- drill and drill bits.
- Mig welder.
- Files varying in size, shape and, courseness as needed.
- hammer, and punch chisel set.
- bench grinder.
- sand paper varying from 80 - 800 grit. and a backing (sanding) block.
- polishing wheel and several courseness of rouge.
- Dremmel with small cutoff wheels, small deburring bits, and pollishing bits for small hard to get areas.
Other common small tools may be usefull like pliers or vicegrips.
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The Japanese used high carbon steels, about 1.8 - 2.00%carbon. They covered the blade with clay and then exposed the edge. When the sword was quenched it hardened the cutting edge while the main section remained tough due to cooling slower.
The Damascus blade relied on controlled cooling by plunging the red hot steel, that matched the colour of the setting sun, through the body of a Nubian slave.
English blades were stretched and doubled over then hammer rewelded a few times to give the strength of wrought iron.
And so on from using the urine of a red headed boy to quench the steel to using the urine of a goat fed only on ferns.
Unfortunately your's seem to be just shaped out of any old steel, with no attempt to turn the pretty steel thing into a real sword..
Not withstanding - they are well fashioned and look good.
There are multiple styles of Japanese swords, but most of them contained about 50% plain Iron, and 50% steel(known as tamahagane). The "legendary" folding/welding technique was meant to homogenize the Iron and Steel, giving the swords the edge holding capabilities of Steel and the flexibility and toughness of Iron. Also some used a core of Iron with steel plates forge welded along the outside of the blade to make the cutting edges.
Damascus blades get their characteristics from their steel as well. They were made from what is now known as Wootz Steel, which again is a combination of steel and iron. Also there is no evidence of quenching by driving a sword through a slave, and for good reason. It would ruin the blade. Also, slaves were much too expensive to do that with.
Now as for English blades, they primarily used blister steel, which is of an inferior quality from Wootz steel. They also would combine the blister steel with plain Iron to add flexibility and toughness to the blades, and would fold, or twist or both to combine the two. Also while it's probably possible to get an ok quench from urine, it still wouldn't be as good as plain water or oil. Most likely the urine was used as an etchant, due to ammonia content.
Good advice! and thanks for the compliment.