Random puzzler: Fenching foils

mete said:
It's NOT a carbon martensite !!! But it IS a martensite ! BTW my titanium gladius is also a martensite but not with carbon. " not an acceptable blade steel " ??? Then why are they using it ? You said that to the wrong guy !! I made my maraging steel forged it ,tested it , high strength , very tough fine for fencing !!! You need some metallurgy lessons !
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Dude... Perhaps a chill pill? Did you even read my post before blowing up? Of course it's fine for fencing. Did you think I was intimating that the Olympic fencing teams were using the wrong steel? :rolleyes:

According my research the maraging steel used in modern foils is designed for toughness and flexibility. Perfect for foils (Which aren't blades...), but unable to hold an edge. It's possible I'm incorrect. Internet research is notoriously fraught with dangers.


Now, back to the original topic of conversation. If these foils WERE made with magaring steel they would not have hardened in water as I understand it. So I'm back to some medium carbon steel.
 
One could always wear a gorget under the jacket. Thus a blade might sneak under the mask 's bib but then be stopped for sure.
 
I could stand not correct, but the maraging steel will make martensite even quenching in air, but to get the target hardness you are supposed then to temper in the 500 °C range (3 hours more or less), depending on wich maraging steel it is. The precipitation you get will strenghten thus the martensite matrix, maximising the hardness/toughness ratio.
I have no clue what hardness you'd get, but i imagine it will be great steel for a dagger or a rapier, not so for a nice slicer.
 
Properties of Maraging steels -excellent mechanical properties , easy forming , simple HT, good machinability ,excellent weldability . The three original grades produced hardness of 44-56 HRc .These alloys were developed by INCO in the '60s . I met some of the people who developed them .No they were not thinking of fencing or golf clubs !! While working on my thesis I studied the subject in detail. It was then and still is now a problem of getting people to understand that there are martensites that do not contain carbon !! Someone then discovered that it makes a strong tough material ,with spring properties great for fencing !

Another interesting material is Shape Memory Alloys which manipulate martensite to get interesting results with uses in medical and other fields. I still have an early piece of Nitanol also developed in the '60s .I used it to show the magic of metallurgy !!!
 
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I finally had some more time to play in the shop over the long weekend. I'm still not sure what steel these are, but I've confirmed that they don't harden at all in oil, but harden up very nicely in water. I've decided to step out on a limb and try my hand at making double edged daggers from these foils. They'll be my first double-edged knives. Forged them out yesterday, and did a rough (very rough) initial grind before I had to pack it in for the day. I'll post updates as I get time to do more...

foil%20daggers%201.jpg
 
They should work fine for daggers. Daggers need to be tough, but edge retention isn't a big requirement.
 
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