Castable, Strong, and Light Weight Alloy?

If you fill it with sand and cap the ends it is for COLD forming the sand will keep the tubing from collapsing. Capping both ends will cause an explosion and your gas forge will not like it one bit, If you place 2 pieces of 1/2 plate say 12" in diameter together and seal weld them all the way out then dip them in a galvanizing tank (molten tin/zinc) the will bulge and split the weld somewhere. Have seen the results of this type mistake. Not good. Even a damascus canister needs a small leak or a thin spot to release the pressure or it will rupture and it could be with considerable force if the walls have any thickness and the weld is solid. 1 drop of water or moisture makes a huge amount of stem. 1 part water = about 1500 parts of stem at 14psi at 600 degrees you are going to get about 600psi and that is a sxxt pile of steam. I work on boilers and steam for a living.
 
What about making the blade just over 1/2" wide and 1/8" thick and 5" long with a 5" handle using a thin narrow tang and using cork as the handle. The handle would probably be about 3/4" wide in the middle. I am not sure what to use for the pommel or guard. I will do the wrench as a cut out in the blade to help reduce the weight of the knife. Will this work to float it?
 
Quick calc:

If you have through tang of 5mm (about 1/5 inch) and same thickness as blade
handle of 100mm length (4 inch)


Then the knife will start being a floater from above a round diameter of 27mm (more than an inch) assuming cylindrical shape and no rounded edges.

That might give you some idea... but its a fragile concept, needing some more rigidity in the handle
 
just a thought though, i think the knife needs to be a perfect floater or no floating at all because if it is just neutrally buoyant that is going to suck when you go to try to find it and it is floating half way down and you grab the blade.

-matt
 
I'd just profile one out and stick it in a piece of cork, should be straightforward and very little effort to test. Then you can work out the rest of the details.
 
I think I saw a Helle or some other Scandinavian knife at Ragweed Forge that had a cork handle that floated.
 
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