New to the forum, have a couple questions

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Bingvision

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Oct 29, 2015
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Hey everyone I am an amature metalworker/ backyard blacksmith trying to recreate the sword that Achilles used in the movie Troy. I'm not looking to make a replica I want something fully use able. My design is not exact to the movie props but the general concept is the same. 27in overall from tip to butt. My questions are as follows:
1. 9620 or 5160? What would the best steel for this type of sword be? (Any other suggestions appreciated)
2. Mono temper or differential tempering for this type of sword?
3. 3/16" vs 1/4"?
4. Machining the shape out of flat bar (mill/ground) vs. Hand forging?

That about sums it up...I've made plenty of backyard knives out of old Chevy springs and they are OK for throwing but I've never taken on a project this size before and would love some more experienced advice. Thanks for any help in advance!!
 
Bingvision said:
Hey everyone I am an amature metalworker/ backyard blacksmith trying to recreate the sword that Achilles used in the movie Troy. I'm not looking to make a replica I want something fully use able. My design is not exact to the movie props but the general concept is the same. 27in overall from tip to butt. My questions are as follows:
1. 9620 or 5160? What would the best steel for this type of sword be? (Any other suggestions appreciated)
2. Mono temper or differential tempering for this type of sword?
3. 3/16" vs 1/4"?
4. Machining the shape out of flat bar (mill/ground) vs. Hand forging?

That about sums it up...I've made plenty of backyard knives out of old Chevy springs and they are OK for throwing but I've never taken on a project this size before and would love some more experienced advice. Thanks for any help in advance!!
Click to expand...

1. 5160. It's 9620 with a little added chromium and manganese.
2. Mono temper. Differential tempering isn't needed with good steel.
3. 1/4". It's a chunky looking sword.
4. hand forge it. All things being equal, it'll make a better sword.
 
I'd go 5160. No point doing a differential temper/it won't even take a hamon. I think you'll have a tough time finding it in anything except 1/4" though, so that's probably a moot point. There's no reason to suppose that hand forging will make a better sword; metallurgically, you're actually LESS likely to end up with a good sword. Forging allows you to make more use of the metal; so you can forge it into a longer length than you have. It also allows you to forge out impurities. However, with modern metallurgy, you're not going to HAVE impurities that need forging out, and the constant reheating and cooling at varying rates will leave you with an inconsistent grain structure, that you'll then have to normalize before you can temper, which isn't an issue with stock removal. Modern metallurgy has yielded consistently good quality steel with uniform grain structure, eliminating much of the need for forging, particularly if you're not pattern-welding, or using thicker and shorter stock, etc. In any case, make sure to run it through at least one normalizing cycle if you plan on forging.
 
Probably stock removal, but use a new piece of steel. The old springs might have small stress fractures that new steel isn't likely to have. The heat treatment for 1084 will be a little easier than the heat treatment for 5160. So for a backyard blacksmith I'd suggest 1084. You could use a longer forge so you can (more easily) get the steel to uniform temperature before the quench.
 
Normalize normalize normalize! Why would the steel supplier do it for you?

You can do a simple heat treat on 5160 and it will be allright, if you wanted to you could send it out for heat treatment. If you have an anvil then forge away or grind it if you want/have to, read about forging distal tapers and learn how to draw file, honestly you could draw file the whole blade and it wouldnt be too hard. Your hands will hurt though.

There are a lot more swords on bladesmithsforum.com, check out a bunch of W.I.P. threads and look for everything from how to clamp a sword for filing to how to just look at the dang thing to see if its straight, there might be some sword W.I.P. threads on this site but I havent seen them.

Good luck, monotemper, and quarter inch steel.
 
13288d1420130135-achilles-brad-pitt-sword-troy-sword-1.jpg
 
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