I bought some leaf springs and i am drawing out a piece to make a sword but i was done forging for the night and i was doing a normalizing cycle when i noticed a bunch of cracks in my steel. How did this happen and how do i fix this

Were these old used springs that may have had micro cracks in them already?

Did you quench the metal at any point---including contact quenching on the anvil or vise?

Did you work at the correct temperature for the alloy?

Did you NOT leave big hammer dings in the steel that propagate cracks?

Did you learn to forge correctly BEFORE trying to do a sword?

Sorry but the only fix is to throw it away.----You wouldn't want a blade that possibly had hidden cracks in it anyway!

The fastest way to be able to forge a good blade is to learn to forge well, then learn to forge high carbon steels well by making a number of smaller blades and then moving on to making swords.  Also learn sword design, harmonics, styles, etc.  (BTW what is a good weight for a "using" sword?)

Welcome Zaphod... If you will put your location in your profile, you may be surprised how many of the gang are within visiting distance and some questions are location dependent.

I can't add anything that Thomas hasn't covered, without knowing what type of forge you are using (coal, charcoal, or propane) and how long you have been forging.

Your steel looks like it has been overheated to me with a lot of hammer marks in it. I don't think you can fix the cracks to use that steel for a sword or knife. I would cut it up and use it for less critical applications like punches or anvil tools keeping in mind that it may fail in those applications too.

1 hour ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

 I would cut it up and use it for less critical applications like punches or anvil tools keeping in mind that it may fail in those applications too.

For reasons of possible failures is a great reason to "NOT" use it for anything, especially any tooling that gets used with a hammer.

12 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

Welcome Zaphod... If you will put your location in your profile, you may be surprised how many of the gang are within visiting distance

I'm guessing a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, but that is (finitely) improbable. 

If his semi half cousin Ford shows up the probability increases dramatically.

 

Dang it guys, you just caused the pot of petunias on my windowsill to turn into a whale.  Now how in the heck am I going to get this thing out of he...

... oh, wait...

...never mind.  It just rode away on a plaid Chesterfield.

I just realized what the problem is: using a 42XX series steel.

4242 is *only* for people who know everything about steel!

But it is the ultimate steel for everything!

you mean it's the "universal" alloy?

20 hours ago, Zaphod said:

I bought some leaf springs and i am drawing out a piece to make a sword but i was done forging for the night and i was doing a normalizing cycle when i noticed a bunch of cracks in my steel. How did this happen and how do i fix this

As Thomas and the others have said, you don't fix it (kind of a paradox, there is a way to "fix" it, but if you knew enough to be able to forge weld layers of steel, you wouldn't have to ask the question).  When/if you move on to your next high carbon steel forging project, try not to forge the steel after it cools down from the cherry red stage and work on eliminating cold shunts as well.

Zaphod; you are probably feeling a bit dog piled right now; but please remember we WANT you to succeed.  However the best shortcut to avoiding learning the necessary skills for forging swords involves piling heaps of money in front of someone who has spent the time learning and practicing; James Hrisoulas for instance. There is generally a heap of beautiful blades for sale on his website.

I got into the craft wanting to make my own blades and so save the "ridiculous prices" of highly trained makers.  I now realize that I could have skipped blacksmithing and mowed lawns and bought some of the fanciest swords out there and come out way ahead on time and money! I also know that I would not have traded the last few decades forging on my own for a stack of top maker swords laid flat and as tall as I am!

If you are in a hurry and have to make your own may I suggest taking classes at the American Bladesmith Society's schools (if you are in the USA, if you are in one of the 100+ other countries that contribute here I can't offer suggestions; save for then UK, perhaps)

Try a smaller piece of the same steel.  Before you start hammering on it, heat it up (keeping the heat in the steel billet as even as possible) and let it cool down slowly. Do that a couple times and then heat it up and bury it in some ashes or other insulator and let it cool overnight.  Essentially this process is going to relax the preset stress in the spring steel and anneal it.  Then it will be ready for forging. 

Then work on it in the forge, a be careful how long you strike it.  Keep it at a good malleable temperature.  Start with a smaller piece and make something like a small dagger.  See what results you get.  Then move up to something two handed.

You are going to make mistakes. BUT if you are a careful observer of what you personally do, you will learn NOT to do that again and learn to do the things that work.   

Watch some videos of blacksmiths from Africa and the Philippines making machetes and other tools.  Essentially all they use is used leaf springs.  But they do take time to heat them up and cool them down. Often they are cutting pieces from large springs.  The process of heating the steel up a couple times before striking it relaxes the stress in the steel. 

Report back on what you learn.  

 

 

this makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever to suggest annealing before forging  the spring steel. where did you get this crazy  idea?

I hear that alot on Facebook 

so you have to heat the steel before you heat the steel???  Soon as you bring it above critical the anealing is gone. 

From what I see (and I'm just a newbie)in the op the steel has been worked too cold. I don't think it's was over stressed before hand cause the cracks are where the work is.   Just my inexperienced opinion. 

Once it has gone over the dislocation climb temperature for a short while (the shorter the more you go above it) then there is no work hardening in the metal.

On 10/18/2017 at 10:52 AM, rhitee93 said:

 

...never mind.  It just rode away on a plaid Chesterfield.

They make plaid cigarettes?

Now, THAT seems improbable...

 

15 minutes ago, Cavpilot2k said:

On 10/18/2017 at 10:52 AM, rhitee93 said:

...never mind.  It just rode away on a plaid Chesterfield.

They make plaid cigarettes?

Now, THAT seems improbable...

No, it's just that at the next Quad-State, you'll be able to tell the SOFA members by their kilts.

Hunting Chesterfield anyone?

7 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Hunting Chesterfield anyone?

Not really, I'm not a smoker...

14 hours ago, Cavpilot2k said:

Not really, I'm not a smoker...

I'd fly 10,000 miles to smoke a camel  :-)

17 hours ago, TwistedCustoms said:

I'd fly 10,000 miles to smoke a camel  :-)

better pay me a lot, that will take a custom sized smoker for an animal that large and a lot of Hickory wood too

On 10/18/2017 at 7:07 AM, ThomasPowers said:

4242 is *only* for people who know everything about steel!

What was the question?

On a completely unrelated side note, the original radio show is now available for your Kindle.

Frosty The Lucky.

15 hours ago, TwistedCustoms said:

I'd fly 10,000 miles to smoke a camel  :-)

Ha!

I may have smoked a camel or two after my 10,000 mile flight back in '03.