Rebated/fencing blade questions

H

hiroantagonist

Joined
Dec 22, 2014
Messages
2
First time posting, hello all,
I am getting into S.C.A. Heavy rapier and I I ordered a blade from Alchem inc to build a katana simulator around. After doing some research and working with the blade it becomes apparent that they just cut these out of 1/8" 1075 stock and so I think 'heck, I can do that' but I have run into a few sticky points. Where would I source the steel, I am in northern Ab. Canada. Second can a guy spring temper a 36" piece of steel with a small torch(like for plumbing) and third how would one controls the fail characteristics of the blade. I have heard of some blades breaking longitudinally, leaving a sharp point, and that would be very bad in this case. Edge retention would be a non issue but the blade would need to bend 90 degrees repeatedly without breaking or staying bent. I know online metals has tool steel in the rights size like o1 or a2 but I have no idea if those would work and metal supermarket(a local source) wants to sell me a huge piece, which would be .fine if they could rough cut it for me and I had a dozen buyers. Can you guys give me any advice? Thanks for your time.
 
The process is more complex than just tempering. You should; normalize the blade, harden the blade, then temper the blade. The steel you buy will probably be fully annealed or softened. So the blade that you bought is NOT just a piece of 1/8" steel. More info can be found at the top of the page in the stickies. If you are adept - you can probably build the equipment you need to do a good job for a couple of thousand dollars. The tough part will be getting a good quench on the blade.
 
To answer your heat treating question, no you can't heat treat it. There is no way you could get even heat on a 36" blade with a plumbers torch and i'm guessing you don't have the means to quench it.
 
If you look around on youtube, you can find a few vids of guys that have built sword heat treating charcoal forges on the cheap- a solid fuel trough forge is the way it used to be done, and good results can be obtained with care and experience. You will have to do some research about how to gauge the temperature correctly, what to quench in etc. and how to temper but you could do it. It will be a major undertaking, and if you're planning to use the blade in any combat situations, I'd test it a LOT to make sure it's not going to break.
 
Don't try to ht the steel yourself. Unless you want to do this for a career. You will need to find somebody to outsource it to that has the right equipment and knowledge. A plumbers torch is now where near enough heat. It is designed to solder thin copper which takes place in the 400-500F range. You're gonna need a bit more heat for 36in of 1/8 steel. ;)
 
Don Fogg came up with a design for a sword-length gas HT forge a few years ago, based on a 55-gallon drum mounted horizontally with 1" of Ceramic Fiber blanket inside for insulation. It used a very basic burner.

It was an elegantly simple design and it worked extremely well. It needs a thermocouple and pyrometer for setting, but once set, holds a very even temperature indefinitely. Build cost is pretty low.

It is worth searching for online. I am fairly sure that horizontal works better than vertical for this particular design, but others feel differently; I'd advise anyone thinking of building one to read enough to make up their own mind.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/938184-Sword-Heat-Treat-forge-question

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/862158-Drum-forge-WIP
 
Don't. I have been an SCA rapier marshal long enough to remember the year there were three SCA fencing penetration injuries from blades that people had done stupid things to. One through a rib cage, fortunately missing anything vital, another through the muscle above the shoulder adjacent to the neck, again the person survived. The third, in Buffalo NY the broken blade entered the arm at the wrist and penetrated several inches, producing an interesting scar, but fortunately missing the tendons that control the hand. In that instance I knew both the person whos blade broke, and the victim. If you do not have experience and equipment to do the job right, please do not endanger your friends by bringing a homemade blade into the list.

-Page
 
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