Dream Sword(can it be done)

[Gabe5150]

I am curious if the blade I am thinking of can be made. 

I would like to know if anyone knows if it is possible to forge a sword from meteoric iron? 

If it is possible do I have any takers on a commission? 

[Latticino]

If left as pure iron would be extremely soft.  If processed into steel it would most likely lose the bulk of the interesting/magical/spiritual/whatever characteristics you are looking for.  You might want to clarify a couple of things:  who is supplying the iron, what size/type/quality sword are you looking for,  functional or a wall hanger, what kind of price range are you considering...  I have heard of bladesmiths that incorporated a small amount of meteoric iron into their knife forging, but not exclusively.  Hope you have very deep pockets if you really want something like this. 

[Gergely]

Well, welcome to the forum, Gabe!

Check this out for a bit of fun (and learning):

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1114:_Metallurgy

And I second Latticino on the deep pockets issue.

Also I tried google with "sword made of meteorite iron" and found a few things...

Bests:

Gergely

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Gabe, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the Iforge gang live within visiting distance.

The earliest iron blades are meteoric some date from the beginning of or even before the copper age. King Tut was buried with a meteoric iron dagger. To preserve the "Widmanstätten pattern" you have to forge at a lower temperature than we normally would. Below are images from page one of a Google search using "Meteoric iron pattern" as the search terms.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Meteoric+iron+pattern&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigr9mU8L3UAhUP2WMKHfflAP4QsAQIOw&biw=1094&bih=523

Do you have enough meteoric iron to make a sword, say about a 4lb. piece? Do you know the analysis? Some meteroic blades are spectacular but the maker welded different metallic meteorites with different contents together. Many iron meteorites contain significant % of nickel and other metals some are almost pure iron. Combining them is like combining different steels in a billet. Unfortunately you lose much or all of the pattern of the meteoric iron in the welding.  

Here you go, I did a little closer looking and this is an article about the iron dagger found in Tutankhamun's tomb.  http://www.yttwebzine.com/yesterday/2016/06/03/137574/king_tut_dagger_meteor

There are also sites selling meteorites so you can get a feel for the cost of the project. Figure at least 10% loss forging and you'll have to read the bladesmithing section to find out how much is lost grinding and finishing.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

People have been forging blades from or including meteoritic iron for over 3000 years (for example the iron blade from King Tutankhamun's tomb or the Kris before the introduction of Krupp Nickel Steel.)

As stated Meteoritic iron is a very poor quality iron and difficult to work; some meteorite falls are easier to forge than others and this has been discussed by knifemakers quite a lot even on the net----SEARCH.  Note that to get a decent blade you usually have to mix it with a good steel with 80 to 90% being the good steel and only 20 to 10% meteor

As mentioned forging a meteoritic steel loses the widmanstatten pattern that identifies it as a meteorite.

So you are talking of spending thousands of dollars to make a very low grade sword blade from pure meteorite or spending thousands of dollars to have a top smith weld up a pattern welded billet with appreciable meteorite in it.

If you have the money there are a number of very good smiths who can do it for you.  I'd check with James Hrisoulas as one who has both the swordmaking experience and the working with meteorite experience.  

Much like rabbit stew, first you catch your rabbit!