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I Forge Iron

Civil War short sword


Jason Fry

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Because why not ;)  I read several of the threads here directed toward sword newbs, but they're directed toward newbs in general.  I've not done a sword, but I've made knives for nearly 10 years and have the right equipment for the grind work.

Forged this out at a friend's house the other day, because he has a power hammer. It's like when you have a friend with a bulldozer, you dig a new tank.  

Started with a leaf spring off a wrecked Dodge truck. 
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Hammered a while, till it looked like this. 

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Spent some time grinding today.   Blade is 20 3/8. 
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Finish ground and ready for heat treat.

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Exactly two pounds at this point.  Will lose some more after finish grinding, lose a little off the tang, and gain a bit from the D guard.  

Sort of like this...

http://www.historicalarms.com/confederate-and-union-civil-war-swords-for-sale/confederate-bowie-knife-for-sale.html

Great, now I need another book, lol...

When I build, I'll look at as many pictures and examples as I can find, then build in that ballpark. I don't usually do direct copies.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yep, that's a risk.  Kids and day job got in the way of my HT schedule.  I haven't had that issue before, where one cracked after HT before tempering, in over 500 knives, but I know people it has happened to.  I have cracked them in the quench a few times.  Using a new steel, heat treated by eye instead of digital, in an oil that's marginally fast for the presumed steel, it's a risk, alright. 

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My only significant criticism is of the photography: the busy background is very distracting and makes it hard to see the details of the sword. A simple, monochromatic background would be much better; try a wood tabletop or a weathered board.

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  • 2 months later...
On 1/27/2018 at 11:04 PM, Jason Fry said:

Excessively large photo removed

Looking back over your original photos, I realize that I have failed to draw your attention to one very important detail: you appear to have cut off your thumb. 

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  • 7 months later...

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