vern509 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Bought a cheap saber off of amazon, made my own blade for it. Blade is 5160. Will get more pics if people are interested. Did give me the chance to open my first champagne bottle via sabrage though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Looks pretty good Vern. Details of the blade and construction? More pics are always welcome, we LOVE pics. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vern509 Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 Will get a ton up tonight then. Its 5160 from a semi truck trailer spring. Started out trying to make a rapier, learned fast my ego and oven wont fit either Used a cut off wheel to get a long strip, then it was drawing and flattening and shaping. I am happy with the results, but really the best part was learning. Will be doing the entire process again soon as I know I can do better next time. I did try and get a lot of the build documented on you tube under failing forward forges "cavalry saber reforged." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Maybe not upload a ton of pics at once. You can better describe and we can better follow pics a couple at a time. It's forged then. A long, narrow single edge is a serious job of work to get right isn't it? You might want to try this with coil spring rather than leaf. Leaf is much harder to control forging this shape than coil. The easy way to judge how much to use is by weight. Weigh the blade you wish to duplicate or emulate and add maybe 10-15% or so for loss to scale and grinding. Did you heat treat it? How? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vern509 Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 Yeah, getting one edge good is hard enough. I will keep my eyes open for some coil spring, I got this steel by donating some beer money to the yard guy at our local salvage steel operation. I am now always on the lookout for unused "helper spring" sets on craigslist. (But there is a shop in Chehalis that makes ambulances and other custom jobs, I am going to stop by and ask if they have new take off springs the next time I go by). The blade that came on it was xxxxxx chinese pot metal, but it was super helpful for having dimensions on hand to copy, and make it so that it fit the scabbard. Heat treat was a doozy, it actually gave me the "need" (lol) to buy a 2 burner forge. Normalized three times. Put my single and my new 2 burner lined up end to end to get the entire blade hot enough, tested it on a magnet, then quenched in vegetable oil. Clamped it between two pieces of angle iron; tempered at 550F for two hours in the oven (when the wife was out of town!). Has a very nice ring to it, and flexes well. Decided to err on the side of toughness rather than edge retention; dont want it breaking and hurting anyone. STOP double spacing everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Looks good, but speaking from a safety standpoint, your biggest problem is your use of USED leaf spring; that is a danger in itself with micro fractures, there is a pined post about this here for more info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 The new pull-offs at the Ambulance makers should work a treat though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vern509 Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 Read the post about used leaf springs, very good info. Next project will be a san mai of RR spike and the same spring steel. If I have ready correctly the forge welding will mend any mico-fractures. Proceeded on this project in full understanding of that. Nor am I selling my work. (Edit, just wanted to add that I don't want to sound snarky. The amount of free knowledge that others have shared on this site is amazing and I am grateful for it). (Edit edit: and I dont intend to add to the list of people on here that make six posts and vanish either). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 About the six posts and vanishing thing. Some people overstay their welcome but what can ya do? I think you're going to fit right in, stick around eh? Any custom spring or hot rod lift shop will have newish springs pulled off rigs. Maybe drops as well, I know the spring shop I used to visit in Anchorage had piles of drops. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 It may correct it and it may not depending on if the microfractures weld. They may have oxides in them and instead of welding just become larger---or form inclusions. How good is your forge welding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 6 hours ago, vern509 said: Will get a ton up tonight then Just remember to resize them to something like 500X375 so the folks with dial up and have to pay for additional bandwidth can enjoy them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vern509 Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 Thank you, will do so! 12 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: It may correct it and it may not depending on if the microfractures weld. They may have oxides in them and instead of welding just become larger---or form inclusions. How good is your forge welding? Improving. My learning so far has been that the key is in properly preparred work. Having clean surfaces and good contact. I cant just stick two pieces into the fire and poof them together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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