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10:59 pm
August 5, 2010
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Ive been working on this piece on and off for 9 months now! its my first sword, infact my first blade over 10" :happy:
I found my 'zen' on the belt grinder last week, the photos below are straight from the grinder, its having another dozen or so hours of hand rubbing to get the ripples out, then its reveal time :bounce:
Its also my first hollow grind! 8" wheel to give the wide fuller.
(edit, its not wonkey, though the first two pics suggest otherwise!)
11:12 pm
March 26, 2010
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Is that one I saw at your workshop where you'd done a "trial etch" at the tip to look at the pattern?
Great work John, I'll bet you're really proud.
11:22 pm
August 5, 2010
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Yeah, same one! Its very easy to underestimate the work content in what is effectively a 10 bar blade, hence the 9 months to completion! (ok, ok, and I work sporadically and slow) 🙂
Already planning the next one (much to girlfriends distress) Im going to go old school, wrought and a nice simple steel like W2, with maybe a wisp of pure nickel (meteorite possibly?) for contrast in the core bars, and I would like to find some real old shear or blister steel that I can take to mega high layercount for the edge wrap. So much to try, and no time to try it! (and a replica, of the replica of the Sutton Hoo blade is still playing in the back of my mind, but she would go :bomb: if I get stuck into a project that complex, you wouldnt see me for weeks!)
12:32 am
March 18, 2010
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Wow and wow! Lotta folks talk sword, but...........
So how did you go about doing the "gutter", if I may? Is it yet to be heat treated? That's gotta be a bit hard on the ol' nerves, eh?
Pattern development will infect your brain you know. :banghead:
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
2:01 am
May 13, 2010
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Very nice John. I have no desire to make a sword but I can really appreciate the work that goes into one, and it looks like you are doing an excellent job on it.
4:17 am
March 22, 2010
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Yep sooper kewl..... Nice lines... I'd be real interested to see it once its etched and the furniture installed
Whatever you are, be a good one.
Abraham Lincoln
7:04 am
August 5, 2010
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Thanks for the nice words!
The 'gutter' (lovely turn of phrase) was ground on an 8" wheel, not quite freehand as I had a work rest. It took a few goes to get it right, one of the main reasons the project is taking so long...
Its fully heat treated, yup, a nervous hour! I marquenched it at 230c, then had a few mins to straighten before Martensite kicked in proper, then tempered at 250C in the marquench oil. The steels are udderholm 15n20 & 20c
I never really wanted to make swords when I started patternwelding, but then got a pretty bad itch that needed scratching!
1:27 pm
June 16, 2010
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Wow. It looks very impressive John! Looking forward to seeig the finished product.
2:32 pm
March 26, 2010
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John N;2162 wrote:
Its fully heat treated, yup, a nervous hour! I marquenched it at 230c, then had a few mins to straighten before Martensite kicked in proper, then tempered at 250C in the marquench oil. The steels are udderholm 15n20 & 20c
Ok John, this here is someone who's sum total of heat treating knowledge is "heat till past magnetic, quench in oil, temper at purple" I've heard terms like Marquench and Martensite before; fancy giving a laymans explanation ?
4:42 pm
August 5, 2010
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Im not to up on all the details, but marquenching is heating the blade above non magnetic, per usual, but you quench it into oil that is above the martensite formation temp (in this case we heated the oil to 220C ish),
so, you get the blade through the perlite nose, and then effectivly 'pause' the heat treat as it cant cool the last 220c. This puts quite a bit less shock on the steel during the quench. You can then take the blade out of the oil (with decent gloves on) , and you get a few mins to straighten it as it cools the last bit.
Once the blade is at ambient temperature it is brittle same as a normally quenched blade. I then heated the oil up to my desired tempering temp and put the blade back in for its tempering cycle.
Main advantage of doing this on sword sized pieces is less shock on the blade, the few mins to straighted, and a perfect temper without the need to have a 40" oven !
Please Note.... if someone who understands this process a bit better than me re.the perlite / martensite formation, and can explain it in laymans terms without the TTT diagram please feel free to correct any errors / inaccuracies in this post please 🙂
5:20 pm
March 26, 2010
Offline7:21 pm
March 18, 2010
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Goes like this David:
Once upon a time, there was a cute little iron atom named Ferrite and a big, strong carbon atom named Carbone. Now it seems Carbone was always trying to get into sweet little Ferrite's matrix, but she was just too cold.
One day a blacksmith came along and made a tool from the very piece of steel Ferrite and Carbone lived in. The blacksmith, wise fellow that he was, knew that if he heated Ferrite enough she would accept Carbone and unite with him in a bond of great strength.
As the blacksmith heated the steel, Ferrite could feel herself getting hot and her little electrons spreading further open. Carbone was not unaware of this and prepared himself to bond with her. Then all of a sudden she was at the perfect state. Even though she had lost her magnetic attraction, Carbone was in such a heated state that he thrust his now rigid molecular structure between her supple electrons and into her matrix and united with her.
Now the blacksmith (wise fellow that he was) knew that if he doused them with water quickly enough they would become cemented in their embrace forever. Seizing the moment, he thrust the steel into the slack tub.
Once cool, the blacksmith (wise fellow that he was) knew that Carbone's structure was far too hard and might break off. So he heated the steel again, but only enough to allow the structure to soften a little.
And so Sweet little Ferrite and big, strong Carbone were united in their bond and lived happily ever after.
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
7:59 pm
March 18, 2010
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Come back next week for Part II: Preventing premature transformation!
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
8:02 pm
March 26, 2010
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So when Moly tried to get in with the action did that make a threesome?
8:05 pm
March 18, 2010
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Nasty boy!:devil:
Hmm, wonder if I could get away with posting this over at IFI.
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
8:14 pm
March 26, 2010
Offline8:51 pm
August 5, 2010
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its all about the 'ites
8:46 pm
August 5, 2010
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got this blade finished up today :happy:
1:33 am
March 22, 2010
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