attempted metallurgically correct 13th century knife

[sunshadow]

This is something completely different, I entered a contest in the medieval society I am in with this, the project goals were to make a historically correct 13th century knife

My original goal was to smelt the bloom, forge that into wrought iron,carbeurize the wrought iron into blister steel, and forgeweld that to the wrought iron spine for a metallurgically correct construction. I managed to do all of the steps except the carbeurization, but I ran out of time before I was able to successfully build a composite blade out of my homesmelted iron, so the blade I entered was forged from antique wrought iron for the spine of the blade, 1070 simple carbon steel for the edge (according to a collector I talked to who had some of his antique knives made of blister steel analyzed, the carbon was equivalent to 1060-1075 steel) the handle is cherry with a rubbed oil finish, attached with hide glue. I have given the blades a light ferric chloride etch to accentuate the diiferences between the metals, and to show the grain in the wrought iron.

I am hoping to do more smelts this summer and make a knife entirely from my homesmelted metal

The display board has a sample of magnetite ore which was what was used for the bloom that the homemade wrought iron bar and blade were made from, a chunk of the bloom I smelted on Thanksgiving, a bar I reduced from a bloom at the Ashokan Bladesmiths seminar under the supervision of Michael McCarthy, a blade forged from that bar, my first attempt at a composite blade to test my methods, and a finished composite blade ready for finish grinding



let me know what you think

-Page

 

[Troop]

Very nice, Page. Just watch it, or some jackass might wind up suing you.:grumpy:
- Mitch

 

[David Loukides]

Page,
That is really interesting. Thanks for the post!!!

 

[steelshaper]

Very cool Page! This is something I am aslo very interested in myself. I have a couple of questions on the subject. Do you think blister steel is more period corect than say steel that was carberized during the smelt? Also did you weld a bar of steel on the edge like what would be done making a normal multi bar blade or is the higher carbon edge inserted and welded into a v shaped slit on the iron?

One last question how would hematite compare to magnetite as far as smelting.

Sorry for all the questions. I have wet dreams about smelting my own steel and getting a meteorite and making a patern welded migration period sword for myself. O.K. so I am a long way off from that but a guy can dream.

Oh well cool stuff and good work!

 

[sunshadow]

Very cool Page! This is something I am aslo very interested in myself. I have a couple of questions on the subject. Do you think blister steel is more period corect than say steel that was carberized during the smelt? Also did you weld a bar of steel on the edge like what would be done making a normal multi bar blade or is the higher carbon edge inserted and welded into a v shaped slit on the iron?

One last question how would hematite compare to magnetite as far as smelting.

Sorry for all the questions. I have wet dreams about smelting my own steel and getting a meteorite and making a patern welded migration period sword for myself. O.K. so I am a long way off from that but a guy can dream.

Oh well cool stuff and good work!

I think that choosing the optimal parts of the bloom from a bloom smelt and combining them to create the best blade in what the London museum book calls piled construction (pattern welding) seems predominant until the 13th century in Europe according to what I've read, after that carbeurizing iron is predominant for several hundred years, then indirect reduction from cast iron. on the other hand if I remember Anne Feuerbach's (spelling?) Ashokan lecture correctly, Bulat (what we call wootz) was being produced in Persia and in the city of Merv more than 2000 years ago
first, I forgewelded the steel onto the wrought iron, then forged the blade.
I can't personally address the difference between hematite and magnetite, Michael McCarthy suggested a hematite smelt when we were asking him about making a higher carbon content bloom smelt
I'm currently working on a monosteel (5160) viking sword, I' m hoping to do a pattern welded one in time for Ashokan, but that one may be a bit too ambitious, as my current sword project is taking too long

-Page

 

[Alarion]

Actually, etching with ferric chloride may be ok as a blade like that, with some Very nice knife, and congratulations for the deed. Smelting your own iron and forging a bloom into a manufact is something I only read of, never seen the pics.
If you like, there is an old issue of Scientific American about ancient wrought iron, steeled manufacts.

There's also one about wootz (well before the delirious sue).