[from newsgroup] traditional quick-and-dirty method for tempering axe heads

ddean

ddean

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This message appeared recently on alt.crafts.blacksmithing
Interesting to compare to what we know of the kami's technique.

"Douglas Neukam" <dneukam@rtccom.net> moved upon the face of the 'Net and spake thusly:

> After hardening you must temper the steel to
> make it less hard,if you don't the knife will break.

I was reading a book last night on Australian traditional bush crafts,
and in a section on blacksmithing, they related this traditional
quick-and-dirty method for tempering axe heads and crowbars.

Not really applicable to knives, as there's not enough mass behind the
blade.

* Head the item to red

* Quench the edge and remove from the water, scrape the blade with a
file to remove scale and reveal the steel

* Hold the (still very hot) axe head above the water, and watch the
colours of the filed steel. When you see the blue/yellow colour
move down the piece to the edge, quench the entire thing.

This is basically using the residual heat in the non-blade portion
of the metal to do the tempering, rather than re-heating it.

--cjb "
 
Interesting, the more I find out about bladesmithing, the more I learn how little I know.
Speaking of quenching hot steel, I read somewhere that the graceful curve of old katana blades was originally a result of the way they were quenched.
It's a pity most blades are nowadays made by machines. Primitive cultures thought blacksmiths possessed magical abilities. I guess that puts me in the primitive category, because I'm convinced they do.

Sarge
 
Originally posted by Sylvrfalcn
Interesting, the more I find out about bladesmithing, the more I learn how little I know.
Speaking of quenching hot steel, I read somewhere that the graceful curve of old katana blades was originally a result of the way they were quenched.
It's a pity most blades are nowadays made by machines. Primitive cultures thought blacksmiths possessed magical abilities. I guess that puts me in the primitive category, because I'm convinced they do.

Sarge
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I was in exactly the same boat! :)

You are exactly right, the graceful curve that appears in all Japanese Blades comes from the quenching. The blades were traditionally coated with clay of a bizarre recipe. This was scraped off the edge. When heated, the clay insulates the back, spine and tang of the sword, so the edge gets hotter. The whole Blade is then quenched and when it does so, the edge cools faster than the rest of the blade, so the blade curves! :)

It is really very interesting. The same thing is done, albeit in a different form, by Western 'smiths. They carefully monitor the tempering, so the edge is heated more than the rest of the blade. The results are similar, IMOHO, but nowhere near as traditional.

As to blades being made by machine, yes, I agree that 'smithing is a dying art. However, the debate still rages on between the merit and demerits of forging Vs stock removal. Interestingly, some fantastic Japanese-styled blades are made using stock removal. Canadian Mastersmith Wally Hayes and American Steve Corkham are two that spring to mind. Wally makes even full-sized Katana-styled swords by stock removal!
 
We are headed down the road which ends in the place where nothing is handcrafted. How long it will take to get there I'm not sure.
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
We are headed down the road which ends in the place where nothing is handcrafted. How long it will take to get there I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

True. However, it's hard for me to imagine a big industrial machine shop with a bunch of kamis behind the wheels...;)
 
Well, maybe the machines they use are handmade? Or the machines that made those machines were handmade? Humans still gotta enter the cycle somewhere, and even stock removal blades have to be human-ground and human-tempered and human polished. You can't ever separate man from his tools, they are interconnected, and have been for a while...

I have a buddy who smiths, but it is more for the art and joy than it is to produce like a kami.

I'm okay with stock removal, as long as the source steel is good and the heat treat is correct. Most forging on blades that included folding (like wootz and pattern welded steel) was done to get a good carbon content and to remove impurities, both of which are addressed in modern steel making. Modern steel rocks. Even the kamis are using Mercedes benz leaf springs (good recycle!) which is modern steel.

Keith
 
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