Tai chi sword steel?

For fencing blades I love strait 5160, but I havnt been able to make 5160 reliably cut through a 1/4th 1018 round without significant edge damage, might just be my tempering, flame tempers dont seem to really do the trick for 5160. L6 makes a good broad sword by itself, no need for any other steel.

That might need some reference... I make my own tools as well, for hot cuts fullers hammers ect, the material on a blade edge requires enough resistance to sheer through a round of 1018, in general I hold that a sword slams into what it hits the same way an axe does and not gentle cut like a knife.
 
Last edited:
Joseph Gardner said:
w2 was the core the wrought iron is the sides, not sure how you came to that.
Click to expand...


Joseph Gardner said:
The reason i would sell them for hundreds if i didnt give them away was because i folded the wrought iron in the core 15 times myself.
Click to expand...

Just sayin' it does get a bit confusing.

It sounds like you have a lot of hands-on experience forging steel laminations, so if you're failing at sharing what you've learned, it's probably because what you're trying to share is lost within the withering barrage of opinion and nonsense.
 
Theres a big picture that is made of tiny pictures made of tinier pictures, each statement is just a supporting argument to the big picture which is not spoken because its already painted.

its like I put together three red legos and a blue lego and then the only thing you focus on is the blue one. But steel is put together that way. Again it sounds like nonsense but each statement and quasi factiod as you call it is part of that comprehension.
 
Again it sounds like nonsense.
850b2a3a93625ff9091965304025c250--walking-dead--walking-dead-zombies.jpg

[video]
 
Last edited:
Metallurgy of Steel for Bladesmiths & Others who Heat Treat and Forge Steel. I personally think John D. Verhoeven was trolling us with this title. Might as well have named it: The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
 
5160 is not hard to HT but you can't just do it by magnet. I like to make sure it's sitting over 1500 before quenching- I think there's temperature indicators you can get if you don't have a thermocouple in the forge. If the blade has been ground down before HT, all the black scale should have fallen off the area that was hardened properly- I also recommend warming your quench oil a bit, say 150 F or so, so it conducts the heat away a tad quicker. I've never had issues with 5160 being too soft to "bite" mild steel.
 
never used a magnet or thermocouplers, just a plain charcoal forge or propane, the biting as you call it is just putting the blade to the stock and having a second person take a sledge to the back of it (not a gentle tap, full swing), iv usually used Oil from an oil change or cheap canola. Got an oil recommendation?

Thanks althesmith.
 
I'm not sure I'd use motor oil, I just use olive or corn oil and preheat to 150F before quenching and I like to quench from around 1525 to 1550. I can do it by eye pretty much but I do check temp with a thermocouple when I heat up my salt tank with longer blades. 5160 is pretty deep hardening too. Most of my stuff is double-edged so hammering on the back is right out, I normally just swing the blade against a mild bar. Being able to cut into hard materials with little to no damage is, in my experience, as much or more a factor of edge geometries as blade steel. A very thin edge cross-section is not going to do real well on very heavy impacts regardless of whether it's made from top-grade tool steel or recycled coil springs.
 
A2 handles the test just fine with maybe some extensive dulling,
The tool for hot working ends up breaking in the handle oddly and not the section hammered on or the edge, a little shy of razor sharpness.
 
Edge cross-sectional profile and actual sharpness are two different animals. It's possible to have a fairly convex edge- as on many katana- that is still "razor sharp". OTOH, it is equally possible for a blade with a very thin profile to be as dull as a washing machine manual. Think about 90 per cent of "Surplus store" machetes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top