First try at forging and tempering...

SamuraiDave

SamuraiDave

Joined
Apr 6, 2001
Messages
2,632
Well, the story starts like this...
I was out bbq-ing with my neighbors and the bbq pit is friggen huge.
Much like a charcoal forge the air is drawn through the bottom area the smoke through a larger "upper" chamber for smoking, then up and out the flu.
I thought "Hey, I got a cheapo sword that I was planning on trashing. Maybe I should try what I have been reading on the forum."
So I talked to the guy who owns the bbq pit, now a modified forge, and he had a bunch of rotten wood for me to use. Most of it rotten only on the outside.
So I got it good and hot, got my sword stuck it in the red hot coles and used a magnetic tipped "screw picker-up" thing to see when it was non-magnetic. I then got a huge plastic cup, filled it full of salt water, and I have quinched the tip 3 times, and poured the contence over the cutting edge 2 times. This is the best I could cause of no planning. Right now it is still in the fire outside, probably red hot, and I plan on letting it sit there overnight to cool gradually.
I have seen a little bit of the "Bend" a japanese sword gets happen as I temper it. However, I have little idea what I am doing. I dont know the type of steel it is, but I do know I have gotten all of it well past nonmagnetic when I quenched.

What more can yall suggest? I know this is just a shot in the dark, but who knows what will happen, it is afterall just a bunch of junk steel.
 
So...now I have 5 tempering cycles. Dipping the non magnetic tip then pouring salt saturated water down the edge, then back in the fire.
I have left it out there, by the time the rest of the wood burns off it should be completely coated in ash, then it will slowly cool until I get it tomorrow morning. (Or so I think)

Who knows? Maybe once I figure out what I am doing I can make the thing into a butter knife?
 
I REALLY don't want to be rude, but you would really be best off to do some reading on heat-treating...first in books and then do some searches on the forums.

I'm glad to see you are interested and trying your hand at improving something of yours...but this is not the way to go about it.

Getting steel to austenitizing heat and pouring water on it won't do much of anything at all. You need to quench the blade in a large quench tank that allows you to move the blade front to back and avoid a vapor jacket around the steel. I am totally confident that the water you poured on the blade flashed and evaporated.

What you're describing is a near attempt at hardening the steel. Most steels benefit only from a single quench, and then tempering cycles in an oven to draw back the hardness.

A sword presents a much greater challenge than a small blade. Simply getting an even heat on the entire length of the blade is very difficult.

I recommend that you do lots of reading and get some steel :)

Nick
 
Yup,
Thats what happened.

Gonna start with small stuff after christmas, saving till then.

Thanks!
 
:eek: :eek: :eek: If it's one of those flea market swords chances are it;s some type of SS. Keeps ya off the streets though.
 
Yup, it was trash before, and it still is.

Besides I did what my neighbor wanted me to do... burn up all that firewood!
 
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