ThomasPowers Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 The amount of effort that goes into making a sword means that buying good stock to start with will SAVE you big time. If it would take you 5 hours to earn enough to buy a good piece of steel and you *save* by using scrap that turns out to have a hidden flaw in that shows up *after* you have done 25 hours of work on it---did you save? I advise people to use appropriate alloys from the git go. Learning to do a blade in mild does NOT teach you how to do it in a higher carbon steel. In fact it can get you used to habits that will come back to bite you when working on High C stuff---forging too hot and/or too cold for example. Accidentally quenching a blade by leaving it in contact with a cold anvil or post vise jaws, etc. And lastly: this may be the *ONLY* sword you make; if it turns out well---which can happen---beginner's luck---you end up with a sword instead of a SLO. (there used to be a saying in the biz that "every knifemaker makes one sword" most never make another as the time vs money is way skewed compared to knives) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenaghan Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 The amount of effort that goes into making a sword means that buying good stock to start with will SAVE you big time. If it would take you 5 hours to earn enough to buy a good piece of steel and you *save* by using scrap that turns out to have a hidden flaw in that shows up *after* you have done 25 hours of work on it---did you save? Yes buy new steel, I just checked and I can get a piece of 1075 big enough for almost any sword for about $20... and I'm in Canada and proably pay more then most everyone else... Also 25 hours... I've found a fatal weld flaw after 40 plus, now that hurts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 ........and so it begins......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Had a knife I whipped out of coil spring during a demo that showed a crack in the *spine* after heat treat last weekend. Fatigued springs, wasted work! (Oil quench too.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 We always seem to have time to do it over but never to do it right the first time. After all it's only time and that's sort of free isn't it? Until you're close to running out of it that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Well I sometimes get talked into doing stuff I hadn't planned to at demos to show a bright new person some of the details on how to do something. I really must make a habit of tossing in a piece of o1 or the 1095 I picked up at Q-S and do it right! Anyway It will make a good blade to test to destruction! Hunting knife vs falchion perhaps? (listens for scream in remote distance when apprentice with falchion reads this...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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