posted 08-25-2006 12:49 AM               

A sword needs to be a bit more "tough", more "springy", just less brittle simply because of what a sword is expected to hit/be used on is different than say a knife or dagger is. However, this doesn't mean that you need to have a "less hard" steel, simply that you don't need/want it to be as hard. Just play with the tempering and Poof! It's not as hard, and is far more resilient.

A knife or dagger on the other hand, can afford to be harder-the amount of momentum you can build up by swinging a smaller blade is very small compared to a full powered blow of a sword. So one result or consequence is that you can afford it to be slightly harder-it has to resist a smaller amount of shock.

Am I making this clear? I'm trying to convey that what really matters is not so much the steal as the purpose it is intended for, for wether it's a "knife" or "sword" steel. 1095 has many ideal properties-it's relatively "simple" in terms of heat treatment and chemistry, it's easily hardened, etc. Other favorites of many smiths these days for swords is 5160, or O-1, or L6, or... There are many options-what really matters is what you choose.

Fuller is right-do avoid stainless, especiall for a longer project. Chromium seems to (as far as I understand Metallurgy) seriously inhibit shock absorbtion.

posted 01-27-2010 11:16 AM               

Looking at your previous posts is it really impossible to harden the stainless steel in the "house environment"? for example if i want to make something like this: http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/image/toledano-steel/medieval-sword-I.jpg
i'd really like to make it from stainless steel because i want to avoid the immediate rusting :/

posted 01-27-2010 03:45 PM               

The metals used in swords are usually 'spring steel', id est steel sorts with high levels of carbon, making them quite elastic and still hard. The heat treatment must be very good to make sure that these attributes come out well.

posted 01-28-2010 12:05 PM               

First 3 were made of a simple steel i dont know what number it had but these were to learn the basics Then I made 4 of the stainless acidproof steel and had a project of 2h sword 1,6m... even 7mm thick blade is not enough to keep the blade straight holding horizontally in the air and even a slight bend is permament (it looks ugly too)... I need max 5mm blade to make it look smoother.
Now when I read about the stainless steels i know that there are a few types of them and what I need is a ferritic or martensitic steel not the one i had because its probably austenitic one.

Do you think any martensitic or ferritic steel will be good just to make a display sword like Anduril from LotR films? :P
I wont hit anything with it so it should be hard enough not to bend while swinging it.

posted 02-03-2010 12:59 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by unno:
hai all.
about the material for the blade, i used a machinesawblade for my early mediaeval
kitchen knife. it is about 2.3mm thick
and works fine for kitchen duty.
but i think you wont beable to fight with it.

here you can take a look at it. http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/015/6/2/medieval_knive_finished_by_timberfox15 .jpg

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Very nice! I like it!!