Gundog48 Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 I am planning to forge my first sword in the next few months and have been looking at ways of getting a fuller when working alone. The best example I have found is at the start of this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvmGvAM93bg The construction of the tool won't pose too much of a problem, but the dies themselves will. The way I see it, I will need pretty huge chunks of high carbon steel to make them. The best I can do is a leaf spring from a bus that is about 1.5" thick, but I don't have the equipment to cut it, even a plasma cutter wouldn't get through that. There is also the shape of the die, are there any good templates or guides to getting the shape just right? Would I be able to get away with something a little smaller rather than the big lumps used here? Basically, what would you do bearing in mind I have limited cutting equipment? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 You don't have a hack saw or angle grinder yet you are going to forge a sword? You can anneal the piece and then cut it by hand. If you are using leaf spring you could hot cut the piece you need and then *file* it to fit. Do you have access to a welder? Instead of leaf spring how about a nice big coil spring, straighten the short section you need and with proper welding procedure weld it to your spring arms. I once picked up a length of steel railing cap just because it had a nice arc to make fullering tools from. Mild steel so I use it on *hot* metal and just replace it as it wears past use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundog48 Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 Not sure what I'd do without a hacksaw or angle grinder! I cut a very small section out of it for the cutting edge of a tomahawk using an angle grinder and it took me a good few hours and many disks. To cut a curved shape across the block would take way too long, and would be almost impossible by hand. At least with my little arms! When I say leaf spring, it's not what you'd think, it's a cast off from a bus garage so this thing is huge. It's about a foot and a half long, two inches thick and weighs 30-odd pound. I found a picture! So you would say rather than a big die like this, to just get two lengths of high carbon rod that I could harden, temper and weld onto the arms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Can't see the picture. However I was assuming that with large leaf spring you were taking a slice of it and then cutting it down the middle leaving two pieces with the rounded as found edges with a "flat"ish back that you would weld to the springarms These would need minimal dressing on the ends to follow the fuller without creating steps as struck. Most folks I know just use a section of round stock welded to the spring arms and then dressed. (or a smithing magician type of deal...) I have some 1.5" diameter stock coil spring from a large earth moving machine and one a bit smaller from a RR car coil spring and they both sit on the scrap pile very nicely waiting for a powerhammer to get up and running... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry H Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Why would you need a hack saw or an angle grinder to forge a sword from a leaf spring ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 He doesn't say he is going to forge a sword from a leaf spring, he said he was going to build a fullering tool from one. I couldn't imagine someone at the level of swordmaking without basic tools in their shop (Like "I'm going to work on my Formula 1 race car engine but I don't have a torque wrench...) With those basic tools you can cut steel, even heavy steel. Then I diverged into different ways of doing it. Which reminds me: it's possible to make a one piece set of fullering dies from round stock by forging the spring arm in and bending a short section of the ends 90 degrees and dressing them---they will need a little hop right where they bend to keep the arms off the work. You can even take part of the bottom arm and double it to fit in a hardy hole---adjusting the ends so they are perfectly parallel is the tricky part. Stewart, the video showed a simple set of spring arm fullering dies being used to forge in a fuller on a large blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r smith Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 I want to make a sword but do not know how to cut metal?? :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob S Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 since the video has been removed, what are we talking about here? Too bad. It was a good video. Who removed it and where did it go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Tim215 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Too bad. It was a good video. Who removed it and where did it go? Too bad. It was a good video. Who removed it and where did it go? Pavel Numann is the smith behind the movie " a birth of the sword" and the fuller die he uses is actually very simple to make. One does not need a die as he has in the vid. 30 mm round bar will do the same job and if you really want to you can grind it to the required shape. No cutting needed - just weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundog48 Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 It's a shame the video went down, I used to enjoy watching that. I've already drawn what I need so it's not really a problem for me. Anyway, thanks for the sarcasm, but I am fully capable of cutting metal. However, neither my angle grinder, hacksaw, torch or plasma cutters could cut steel that thick, so I was after alternatives. The 30mm bar sounds like my best bet, would it have to be high carbon and be hardened and tempered, or could I get away with mild? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Having cut railroad rail with a hack saw (you start from the bottom and cut toward the work hardened top and break the last bit) and commonly cut welding bottles with my angle grinder (bells and dishing forms) and have seen many a cutting torch cut way thicker; I thing the real issue is that you choose not to do so---just like I choose not to do certain things because I feel they are too much like work with the tools I have. Making friends with folks with the big tools is often my answer---as well as slowly tooling up as I find good ones cheap...my old Milwaukee large angle grinder is an exercise program with a cord; but with a *good* cutting disk it has chewed through a lot of steel in it's time. Hardened and tempered will last longer---especially if you are using it with high alloy steels that are hot hard; *but* it is harder to source and to use so it comes down to replacing the dies ever so often or messing with the tough stuff. (I'd go with coil spring sections, straightened, preheated, welded and then normalized afterwards myself) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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