Organic steel

T

theflyingplatypus

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Oct 13, 2010
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I was thinking the other day about making your own steel, this started after viewing a blog where the guy made his own steel for Japanese swords and tantos. I am not thinking of making steel myself but am wondering what your opinions are on "organic" steels. Like for instance what would you consider a "organic" steel. The use of the word organic is simply because I cannot think of any other word that would describe this kind of steel. Am I totally crazy or is this a valid thought?

Kaleb
 
One word you could use is "tamahagane". It's a worthwhile pursuit to delve into the history of our craft, and before giant arc furnaces and other modern means of smelting, this is how steel was made. The end result is a pretty basic steel bloom of varying quality. The old masters would break it apart and sort it by rough carbon content (high vs. low carbon). The high carbon steel went to the smith to forge weld into a billet. Because of the nature of the e pluribus unum billet, the billet was folded to consolidate and reduce inclusions and irregularities, basically spreading out the imperfections so that they did not have a significant effect on the integrity of the finished blade.

There's a good many bladesmiths who have enjoyed the occasional home brewed smelt, one of them being our own Kevin Cashen. It can be a load of fun and quite educational to boot. Here's a few links. Scroll down for pictures.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=651547&highlight=bloom

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=694060&highlight=bloom

--nathan
 
Probably the most basic (in terms of complexity to work) readily available steel to purchase is 1084 which is also ideally set up for more primitive heat treating methods because of its eutectoid nature. For a more in-depth understanding of why this is, read through the sticky on "Working the three steel types."

--nathan
 
Nathan's right, 1080 or 1084 is about as basic as it gets for good high-carbon cutlery steel. If looking for an "old fashioned" steel but with modern quality control, that's the way to go. It makes very good tough knives that can take a nice fine edge and be polished real pretty :thumbup:
 
_____Quote from Sam_____________
"Duh, it's already organic, just a bunch of minerals, iron, and carbon."

Uh, Guys....he is asking about pairing the word organic with steel. Steel is never going to be organic. The word means "coming from or pertaining to living ORGANisims". And before Sam brings it up .....NO, quenching the blade in the belly of a eunuch ( or goat pee) will not make it organic.

A home smelt of steel might be considered "Green" if you make your own charcoal and make the tatara ( also spelled tartara) out of adobe. Collecting your own black sands and pulling out the magnetite would really make it a "steel from scratch" project.
I believe that this year ,at Ashokan ,Kevin and the gang are going to do a smelt and will forge a sword from it. "Sand to Sword" in a weekend is going to be a real treat to see.

Making your own steel and doing the work on the knife completely by yourself would, however, be the ultimate level of "Sole Authorship". I think that is the phrase you were searching for.
 
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We also do a couple of smelts in a weekend at the Fire & Brimstone Hammer-In outside Baltimore in March. If you're out this way and you're interested, it's a fun weekend.

-d
 
bladsmth said:
...A home smelt of steel might be considered "Green" if you make your own charcoal...
Click to expand...

Actually, making charcoal isn't very "green" at all. Much of Europe was heavily deforested due to the practice of using charcoal for heating and cooking. Just sayin' ;)
 
Having made my own charcoal to do my first steel smelt with, it's not very green, actually it's kinda black and filthy!
It is very satisfying making your own metal from scratch, not terribly practical, but there is certainly a satisfaction to be had from being able to look at a piece of metal and hold it in your hand and know that it is something you created out of rock and charcoal. The amount of work and time involved, I would never consider selling homemade steel until I can get a powerhammer for bloom refinement, it is purely for my own satisfaction to be able to make my own metal and know that yes, I really can do as my ancestors did. There is a feeling of pride in being able to work the ancient trades that is unattainable through all of this modern virtual stuff, at the end of the night being able to hold in your hand a solid useful object that you created from the bones of the earth is something that many never get to experience

-Page
 
The term green is horrible misused today.
A plug in car does not burn gas....but the power plant burns coal. Some "Green" products actually are more polluting than their "dirty" counterparts.

Making your own charcoal is using a renewable raw material and non-petroleum or electric heat source. In that sense it is far greener than a steel plant in China.
 
bladsmth said:
Making your own charcoal is using a renewable raw material and non-petroleum or electric heat source. In that sense it is far greener than a steel plant in China.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. Then again, heating your forge with dog poop would be renewable, too. The relative efficiency of various fuels could be an entirely different, and probably contentious (sp?), discussion.
 
Dont forget to buy your carbon credits from those who run Generation Investment Management and jack up your price at least by 25%...:D

.
 
Go to the for sale of supplies and find the Wootz steel billets for sale in this forum. Very interesting stuff !!! Frank
 
james terrio said:
Fair enough. Then again, heating your forge with dog poop would be renewable, too. The relative efficiency of various fuels could be an entirely different, and probably contentious (sp?), discussion.
Click to expand...


Actually, meat eaters dung doesn't make great fuel, However, the dung of many grazers(ie. camel, sheep, horses) was used as a viable fuel source in some cultures for hundres if not thousands of years.:D

Sorry James I just could not resist.:D
 
Bladsmth: You have a good sense of humor. Thanks for the info, you are right sole authorship would be better. Come to think of it even though in my original post I said I was not interested in making my own steel I think I am now. Thanks guys you just added another thing to my goals list:rolleyes:.

It looks like 1084 is the way to go as far as easily attainable steel goes. I will also check out that other stuff in FST. If anybody has any links for the process of one making his own steel please post them.

Kaleb
 
delbert ealy said:
Actually, meat eaters dung doesn't make great fuel, However, the dung of many grazers(ie. camel, sheep, horses) was used as a viable fuel source in some cultures for hundres if not thousands of years.:D

Sorry James I just could not resist.:D
Click to expand...

Buffalo chips! ;)
 
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