Computer programmer by day, blacksmith by night. Currently focusing on Wootz steel.
I started forging in 2009 with a 6 year hiatus for college (2011-2017). I first found wootz steel in 2022 and that has been my driving force. I absolutely love learning about it as it has expanded my understanding in knife steels and metallurgical concepts. It is a rabbit hole that never ends but that is fine with me.
I tend to do more Japanese inspired works of art but also do plenty with hunting and kitchen knives.
What bevel jig are you using for grinding? The can't twist clamp is a great idea! The sword is great as well of course. I like how indepth you got on the hibaki and the fit up.Those things are intimidating!
The jig is from Oregon Blade Maker. I bought it off of ebay some time ago. I love the Kant twist clams!!! Those things are great for everything. Thank you, I was unsure how in depth I should go. Seeing how it is a multipart series, I can go into a bit more detail.
Ahhhh yes sloppy work. You would think that if I had another choice I would have done it that way. All Viking era swords and many European swords were this way.
Very delicately... This one did have a slight warp after quench and I put it in a vise with a bending fixture. Two high spots on one side and one on the other. Then bend in the opposite direction.
I would rather have you talking and listen to your music and I’d rather hear the pinging of your hammer or the pinging of your automated press or whatever but music doesn’t make it cool at all
Thank you! I really liked the SGA for the fuller. I will keep that one to use in the future. I have had a lot of practice hammering in bevels lol my true love is forging Japanese blades!
The water on the anvil is a Japanese forging technique. When the hot steel is hammered on it, it creates steam which explosively blows the scale off of the metal. It works better with a little higher temps but still helps. Sometimes the "explosion" is as loud as a firecracker!
So it was the lighting but also somewhat cold. I forged the bevels in the 727C - 820C range and this is done to get a final microstructure of spheroidite. Spheroidite is ferrite and spheroidized cementite instead of the usual pearlite microstructure which is lamellar plates of ferrite and cementite. For more information, see DET, Divorced Eutectoid Transformation. The spheroidite microsctructure is more ductile and in my opinion, shows a nicer pattern.
That is almost a loaded question lol so it is an ultra high carbon steel, around 1.5% carbon usually, and the patten is created by the excess carbon which is stored in the form of carbide. Depending on how the ingot is forged, temps and metal manipulation, you will get a different patterns. This was the original "Damascus" as it was made in Damascus, Syria (Up for debate). Pattern welded Damascus subsequently took the name so now we call it wootz or crucible Damascus.
This may sound silly but..I really like the tang on this one. They often make the tang so narrow and thin to me is a design flaw, but popular none the less. Yours is bigger = stronger which gives me the warm fuzzies..lol.
OK buddy a little tip that a master Bladesmith Thought me when quenching a blade to prevent warping you need a horizontal Quench tank laid on a flat surface so that when you go to quince you believe it doesn’t matter which end it is but It needs to be level at one end of the Quidditch tank needs to be pointed north or to prevent your blade from warping due to the Earths magnetic field So I also suggest you keep a compass on you for when you quench your blades
I have heard this myth before. More importantly, you cannot hold a red hot sword horizontal without introducing warps. At that temp and that thin, it is like a wet noodle.
