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I Forge Iron

What do you notice first?


Gizmo777

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Thats a fun question. Weight of the piece and feel of the handle in the hand for a sword or a knife would be the very first things i noticed, but that i think is also common for nearly anyone not just a smith. The first knives i made were garbage and you could tell just from picking it up. It just felt wrong off in the hand to round in the hand or sharp on the corners. Then you notice all the flaws, hammer marks, non symetrical shape, a warp in the blade things like that but that examining a piece. 

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Have you tried google? Do a search for 'what to look for when buying a sword' and you'll find all sorts of useful info. I can't tell you how much is good since my lunch break is over now but I'm sure you can find something good. 

I'm not trying to be dismissive. I'm just pointing out that research isn't that hard in this day and age. All you have to do is a little searching and you can find your answers. 

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OK first off a swordmaker would NOT be an armour maker; different guilds in fact.  Sort of like a Cardiac Surgeon is not a Neurosurgeon.  Highly skilled in specific areas---which are different.  You would be using different tools in different ways and "back then" folks didn't have the luxury of owning a lot of different tools they only used from time to time.

Next a "blacksmith" would not be experienced with either speciality craft.  In general a Farmer won't be an expert on growing Orchids!

Both items were made by teams of people doing specific jobs, not a single guy working on their own. <=== this is where most authors and Hollywood get messed up! In some places being caught doing a differents guild's job could result in your shop being torn down!

Now as an experienced user looking at the work: for swords the balance is important---and note that the proper balance differed with the different types of swords and how they are used: a falchion will balance very different from a rapier---even if they were made the same year.  As swords were upper class items in early medieval times, they were upper class items.  Gold and silver ornamentation was common before the year 1000 A.D.  "crude work"; well would you expect your maserati body to be crudely made after you spent several year's income for a "regular guy" on it? Note they will be sharp! and for nearly 1000 years the weight of a combat sword was about 2.2-2.5 pounds (1 KG)  in Western Europe *and* the same weight works for Katanas too.  Heavy == slow and slow == dead on the battlefield!  (weight and balance and fit and finish is what you would expect to notice right off)  Can you use it without the guard getting in the way?  For a real insiders trick---they would check the harmonics of the blade.  A proper blade has a node---zero point---at the grip so if you hit something the vibration does NOT buzz your hand making you drop it.  So holding the blade and hitting it with your hand on the side to check.  Flexibility is a good thing too for European blades, Japanese blades were made differently and will take a set easier.

Armour: plate armour was generally custom made for a person; not until fairly late in the period do you get "munition armour" made up and issued to folks.   Sort of like stealing shoes---you want to mug someone with the same foot size to get good armour. Looking over armour you would check the state of the straps and buckles, look for battle damage, check the weight---a fully armoured, head to toe, knight in battle armour would expect it to weigh from 60 to 80 pounds and be very well distributed.  I had a friend in Nam who was expected to carry 120 pounds into battle, so armour was *light*!

Armour was made from real wrought iron or wrought iron derived steels---look at the Negroli work done in medium carbon steels!

gotta go could expound on this all day as it's in my area of interest; shoot I spent a year apprenticed to a swordmaker when I was in my 20's---6 days a week in the shop, no pay but two meals a day with his family type of apprenticeship.

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Look at the german Hausbuchs that showed armour polishers as a different craft from armour makers!  The Cutler was often the "assembler" and seller and would subcontract sword jobs out to the folks who forged, polished, made scabbards for them while he handled the hilting. (couldn't resist)

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Taking the question at face value, someone with blacksmithing experience isn't the same thing as a professional sword maker.  Please note, that although the question was pertaining to armor and swords, the OP never actually said the story or the inquiry was set in history.

It occurs to me that blacksmiths might be inclined to notice features that were done by a specific process that's a telltale sign of skill.  For example, it can be easier to grind in a profile than it is to forge it.  Same goes for precision joinery versus adhesives.

I would also think that a blacksmith might be quicker to notice that a piece of "blue steel" armor may not actually be made out of high carbon steel.  High carbon tend to ring like a bell compared to mild steel.  A smith might be inclined to give it a tap to hear what it says for itself.

If a smith had to quickly choose between several partially completed blades, they might pick the one with visible temper lines.

Looking over damaged weapons, a smith might notice large grain structure at the broken ends of poorly tempered steel.  They might also notice a quality sword that bent rather than broke.

I would also think a blacksmith would be quick to notice repairs or modifications to a forged item.  Sometimes it's obvious that the smith doing the repair had more skill or better materials than the original maker. 

 

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Sort of as Rockstar implied, fit and finish of the detail areas where shortcuts are taken or show the skills of the maker.  Also hidden aspects like joinery which is hard to notice unless you know a bit about fabrication.

Even a beautiful blade is just a hunk of worked iron plus other bits so I tend to notice the work, not the object as a whole or suitability for it's intended use until later.

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