Charlotte

Yes, that is exactly as it was demonstrated to me. I was already running to long to be really exact.

It is very possible to get white hot is a gas forge. It is more difficult in an atmospheric gas forge. The famous Sandia Gas forge that ABANA sold plans for featured a recuperating rig on it that melted a piece of steel accidentaly left in the forge! Atmospheric forges have problems when you go up in altitude. If you wife makes adjustments in cooking times because of it your forge will have problems if atmospheric.

Carbon makes steel hard by jumping into the middle of the crystal's molecules at a certain range to temperatures and locking them in a form that has difficulty shifting form or sliding along other crystals. We heat treat to make sure that we get the arrangements we want so we have the propeties appropriate to its use. The folding of steel produces a lamination like plywood. It makes it strong and flexible. Having different kinds of steel lying side by side allows the best properties of each kind to cover the weakness of the other. Laminated steels tend to be sharper than monlithic steels because, at the microscopic level, the soft spots wear away leaving sharp points of harder material sticking up. A very sharp blade is actually a narrow wedge with a sawtooth edge. There are a number of videos available on the web and through ABANA that deal with the Japanese sword and its manufacture. The legend of the Japanese sword is based in part on the skill of the users. They trained extensively and precisely on the proper technique to produce the best cut possible. Most of the the "Historic" Japanese world war two swords were produced in factories. I've see a number of these swords offered as master works that were less well made than civil war confederate swords, ( most made in britan any way). True master work swords were assembled in a number of ways any where from 2 to 5 seperate pieces were forge welded. Only the cutting edge was given the 9 or ten forge folding treatment. The master's sword makers first job was to select from the variety of bloomery products supplied by the master of the bloomery. The mixture of products used varied from master to master. The way in which a sword is manufactured often determines the way in which they are used. Most Japanese swords were a not as sharp as popular myth portrays, but they were very highly polished and the edge was very highly honed and precisely angled. Great polish and careful refinement of the microscopic edge makes for wonderful cutting. Japanese Swords were both tough and cut well enough slice through boiled leather, wood, cloth, and flesh with great ease. The Samurai, like European Chivalry spent most of their time killingthe "Cannon Foder"They were rarely used edge to edge because one or the other blade would suffer sever damage to the cutting edge. They did however often meet blade to cross hand guard. Most the training involved how to get in the first fatal cut without being touched your self. The sharpest blades were made of indian wootz steel. They were truely amazing and able to cult silk scarves thrown in the air. The were produced in staggering number and cut at the slightest pressure. They were "super carbon " steels produced by breaking down a mixture two different kinds of iron alloys that were in the same billet by hammering them into a more uniform state of alternating layers. This was done hot as soon as the billet was removed for the crucible. The hammering and folding continued until the master smiths judged it same to stop. If the billet was allowed to cool without hammering then the segration of carbon and iron would produce something resembling failed cast iron. The technique in use was to again avoid making contact edge but to sweep around and evade until a telling blow could be landed. A sharp blow in the center of the blade would often shatter it. European swords were made in wide variety of shapes, Styles, and material combinations. Of course since the swords were less dependable and prone to go dull on chainmail Large and heavy ruled the day. Which inturn lead to larger and heavier armor and bigger horses and so. One of the reasons that chain mail died out was that even a big dull sword that didn't cut through the mail could still break your your arm or smash your collar bone.

Anhydrous is prefered because it does not cool the metal as much when it is applied. Using 20 mule team is some times like spraying water on the iron. Moral of the story buy anhydrous form one of the blacksmith suppliers, or a pottery supply company. (Anhydrous Borax is used in pottery Glazes) 5 pounds of anhydrous is like 9.5 lbs of borax powder. Another way of saying this is that 20 mule team is 48% water.(by weight) Twenty mule team dried out in the oven at 300 degrees for a hours, if done perfectly gets out half the water so now it is 31% (by weight) Doesn't cool the steel as much. My choice? I have a plastic container with commercial welding compound that I've only used when I'm making the "must not fail" welds. Other wise I use an old Iron frying pan that my mother broke the handle off of 40 years ago to partially dry the 20 mule team. I keep the supply double sealed in a plastic container inside 2 gallon zip seal freezer bag. My working supply is kept in a plastic containers that stay closed except when in use.

Failing all else look around for potters. Anhydrous borax is one of the many ingredients used in making glazes. They can point you in a direction.

One of the several causes of the American Revolution was the effort of the The British government to control the import of iron into the colonies and prevent the establishment of Iron foundries in the Americas. One item of import was iron rods to make nails from. The major cities all had Iron dealers the way we have steel ware houses today. Then as now the further you were from the ports and foundries the harder it is to get what you want. New high quality steel was expensive then and most folks did not let a nail fall without looking for it real hard.

My first anvil was a piece of railroad rail. Harder to come by now than 30 years ago but if you make friends with the scrap dealers you can often come up with one or something similar. Chunks off of heavy equipment and forged pins strongly tied down work even better than railroad rail.

I've seen the barrel thing done with old roofing shingles covering the sand and the anvil bolted to oak boards cut to fit inside the top of the barrel.

Been facinated with Iron, steel, copper, bronze, zinc and so forth for a long time. I joined ABANA years ago and was one of the founding members of our state organization. With a background in hard science and years working for one of the industrial gas companies I've accumulated a lot of information that is useless to any one but other smiths. I make mostly small decorative items and give away a much as I sell. High point was a fire place set that sold at a charity auction for over $500. I'm recently retired and plan to spend part of my time forging for fun and profit. ATM I'm recovering from an auto accident and trying to map out how much I can do with out damaging my bits and pieces.