Question about Heat Treating

J

Jarrad.Reck

Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
7
Hi guys!

So, I've been working on a little project; a longsword (52.5"/133.35cm total length, 41.25"/104.775cm blade length), the profile of which is loosely based off of the N4516 from the National Museum of Slovenia. I've re-tailored it to fit a 5'10" man according to what I could find on the subject from Fiore De Liberi.

I've been working on this as a surprise for my Dad (a long time collector) for a little while now, and I'm only a little grinding away till it'll be time to heat treat/temper.

The piece itself is HR1095, and I do not have the confidence in my own skills to treat it without ruining it - I was wondering where you fine folks turn to for your heat treating needs, as I'm sure I'd end up starting all over if I tried it myself.

Thanks!

P.S. I'll attach a couple pictures a little later, should be able to give a little more insight as to the profile of the piece.
 
That's a big'un, might be beyond capacity for a lot of the pro heat-treatment places. What's your location? Someone on the forums might know a place near you that does large swords.
 
Thanks for the reply!

From what I understand, that's half of the tricky part, 41.25" is a lot of blade to get treated - that and the HR1095; it's a little temperamental (no pun intended).

I'm located in southern PA, but I understand if it would need to be shipped out of my day trip range: I figure that's just the nature of this particular beast.
 
horseclover said:
Check truck spring shops near you.
Click to expand...
Interesting! I'll make a couple calls.

The only bit I'm really worried about straightness - I guess I just have nightmares of it coming back as a mangled up mess. I suppose that given they would be working out of their comfort zone, they wouldn't want to offer any assurances in that aspect.
 
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So, just a quick update:

I contracted a Bodycote facility about treating the blade, which they did - unfortunately it didn't really work out.

Oh well, I guess I'll just water cut another one and try again, and I'll guess I'll keep on the hunt for a place to get this thing treated. As ever, if anyone's got any clever ideas, I'm all ears!

(here's some shots of the first try, I've nicknamed it "the noodle")

https://www.flickr.com/photos/149649315@N03/?
 
Fix what you have ! Sub-critical anneal 1200F 2 hours , straighten , reharden.
 
Wow, mete, I see you on here a lot, you really know your stuff - thanks for throwing in on this thread!

So far I have access to CAD and a water cutting table (Mike Mackin @ Spectrum Energetics is the man!), as well as a sound source for carbon steel bars, but my layout has been as old-school as it comes; I used some research into treatises/smithing accounts, and sprinkled some of my background on architectural design, particularly with regards to Grecian geometric design (and good ol' ~1.618= ~Θ). :thumbsup:

Annealing -> straightening -> maybe a round of normalizing would probably work like gangbusters; unfortunately I've been relying on my layouts and stock removal for the majority of my process. I simply don't have the facilities to treat a blade of that size, and I apologize for not mentioning that in any of my past posts.

Also, I forgot to add a digital copy of the drafted layout, it's in the flickr now!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/149649315@N03/?
 
Just a suggestion, but if you are going to have the water jet guy cut a new one, do it in 1070, 1075, or 1060. You don't need .95% carbon in a longsword blade ...I would say you really don't want it.
The hypo-eutectic steel will be easier to HT, straighten, and finish. Another choice would be 5160 or 9260.
 
that's definitely a concern I have is that 1095 was a simple choice for the dimensions I could pick it up in, but all the info it received is that it's a challenge to heat treat.

I might be looking at another pass on the watercutting table; I could reasonably do 1075 or 5160 blanks - then it'll just be getting the nerve to do it myself on this size of blade haha
 
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