Fuzz223 Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Hi Everyone, I'm Mitch, I come from a small town in Australia, and while I'm very interested in smithing I am physically unable to get my own forge or anything like that and am left with just reseaching the subject (which is fine I love researching things) and I've been watching and reading alot of resources, though I found that alot of them are lacking in a few details. So I figured I'd try talking to some real black smiths to learn the things that wikis or youtube don't tell me. I am also very interested in collecting swords (when I can afford them) which is another reason smithing appeals greatly to me. One of the questions I did have involves casting blades. You cast Copper and Tin with a clay mold to make a bronze blade, but I dont see anything like that with iron/steel. I am assuming that this is because liquifying the iron/steel would mean that the temperature would burn away the carbon and leave a weak blade behind. Would I be right in assuming this or am I way off? Anyway I hope that you all dont mind me floating around asking questions. Nice to meet you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 most cast iron is very unsuitable for swords, much too brittle you would forge a blade rather than cast it, it can also be done by material removal, you start with a piece of the right type of steel and grind it to shape or you heat it and hammer it to shape. it depends on the final purpose and your skill set Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 You are way off; in Western Europe casting of steel only happened after the 1700's and so a lot of the sword days were over. Combines with the fact that early casting methods and alloys meant that the cast item tended toward a very large grain size and inherently weak and so they would teem fairly smallish ingots and then forge them to reduce the grain size. Now in central Asia 1000 years earlier they were casting steel but would cast steel, (and wootz steel) "pucks" and forge them out to get the necessary properties May I commend to your attention "Steelmaking before Bessemer, vol 1 Blister Steel and vol 2 Crucible Steel" Also "Crucible Steel in Central Asia production, use and origins" a thesis that I believe you can download here: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317704/ Nowadays you could find alloys and high tech methods that would allow casting of a decent blade after heat treat and it would only cost 3 to 5 times as much as producing one by other means....one-off castings of "exotic" alloys are not cheap! There have been some very nice blades done by CNC machining---by people who actually know how a blade needs to be designed rather than by machinists who are clueless about swords (weight and vibration nodes are usually the giveaway on if the person knows what they are doing!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 As for physical limitations: I have taught people with thalidomide birth defects, nearly blind and in a wheelchair smithing. What are your issues? We may have a way around them!---a one fire brick forge run off a plumbing propane torch will allow small work to be done on a tabletop basis! (including small blade work) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 one person on here from Scotland has RSI problems so cannot use a hammer but makes swords by material removal, I suggested to him a very small power hammer so he could forge them if he wanted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 There was a fellow at SOFA about a decade ago who made some 3 pound powerhammers that would mount in the hardy hole and use the anvil as an anvil for folks who couldn't hammer much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 there is always a way if you think about it and most here are problem solvers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Problem Solvers????? Where is the problem??? I don't see a problem!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 the problem is that some see a problem, the rest of us see an oppertunity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo7 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 hey Mitch, let us know where you are, there's a lot of Aussies here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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