- Joined
- Jan 10, 2010
- Messages
- 1,818
This is something I've been playing with for a while now. A while back, I became interested in the fact that there was a time, before people understood the idea of steel, that swords and knives were just iron. So I started learning a bit about the nature of these early Iron Age weapons and learned that not all iron is the same. There were Celtic tribes that had iron swords that they had to actually bend back to shape right in the heat of battle, according to Roman accounts. And then there were tribes that had frighteningly awesome swords that held edges. Now I'm talking about a time before anybody knew about quenching iron or steel to make it harder. Just coming out of the bronze age, people were trying to work harden, or hammer harden their iron blades the same way they did bronze. As mentioned above, not all iron is created equal. It turns out that some regions yielded smelted iron that could hammer harden in a way very similar to bronze. Now we know that the presence of phosphorus in the iron makes it possible to be hardened by careful hammering of the spine and edge of the blade when cold. Not everybody has phosphoric iron. In fact, some people even had steel but since they didn't quench it did them no good.
To make a long story short... I ended up getting my hands on some phosphoric wrought iron salvaged from an old grain elevator so I made some blades from it by forging to shape from 1.5" bar and then cold working the edges down. Here is the fruit of my effort... a 'short sword' with 18" blade inspired by certain early Celtic styles with riveted handles and lenticular (lens shaped) blades. This was NOT an attempt at a strictly accurate historical replica. Just inspired. But it has the look I think. The handle material is basically morticed and riveted through both the tang and the blade. It is East Indian rosewood and some unbelievable black oak from ItsaBurl.
This picture makes it look shorter than it is is:
The blade is 3/16" at the base with very gentle distal taper.
Here are some pics of the progression:
Here I am doing some blows on the spine in an attempt to stiffen the entire blade and keep it from bending so easily. Before doing this you could practically wrap it around a tree by whacking it broadside. And I did. But after hammer hardening, you could only almost wrap it around a tree. Not looking good.
But then I started working the edge down..first with a crosspien, then with a heavy sledge to smooth out the marks. It is amazing how tough the iron is on the edge when really giving it with the hammer. You keep thinking it will split, crack or crumble, but it doesn't. I actually cold hammered a hollow grind it in it:
After doing this, I took it to the grinder to clean up and then went back to the anvil to do some lighter hammering right on the edge. I hammer it until it's thin enough to sharpen.
Well after doing this, it really started getting some spring in it. I could put it in a vise and actually flex it (a bit) without it taking a set. And whack trees broadside? Well.. I was no longer wrapping it around a tree, but it still bent pretty good.
But you have to keep in mind that these were used when armor was scarce and the blade was encountering leather, horn, flesh and bone.
As to edge holding.. I haven't tested this one yet.. but I have a small knife I made from the same stuff that I use around the house and it will go a long time when just cutting cardboard, twigs, rope, etc. It doesn't do fine cutting well due to the poor refinement of the iron.. it is basically serrated.
I don't know if I proved much.. but I found an excuse to make a sword from wrought iron.
To make a long story short... I ended up getting my hands on some phosphoric wrought iron salvaged from an old grain elevator so I made some blades from it by forging to shape from 1.5" bar and then cold working the edges down. Here is the fruit of my effort... a 'short sword' with 18" blade inspired by certain early Celtic styles with riveted handles and lenticular (lens shaped) blades. This was NOT an attempt at a strictly accurate historical replica. Just inspired. But it has the look I think. The handle material is basically morticed and riveted through both the tang and the blade. It is East Indian rosewood and some unbelievable black oak from ItsaBurl.
This picture makes it look shorter than it is is:
The blade is 3/16" at the base with very gentle distal taper.
Here are some pics of the progression:
Here I am doing some blows on the spine in an attempt to stiffen the entire blade and keep it from bending so easily. Before doing this you could practically wrap it around a tree by whacking it broadside. And I did. But after hammer hardening, you could only almost wrap it around a tree. Not looking good.
But then I started working the edge down..first with a crosspien, then with a heavy sledge to smooth out the marks. It is amazing how tough the iron is on the edge when really giving it with the hammer. You keep thinking it will split, crack or crumble, but it doesn't. I actually cold hammered a hollow grind it in it:
After doing this, I took it to the grinder to clean up and then went back to the anvil to do some lighter hammering right on the edge. I hammer it until it's thin enough to sharpen.
Well after doing this, it really started getting some spring in it. I could put it in a vise and actually flex it (a bit) without it taking a set. And whack trees broadside? Well.. I was no longer wrapping it around a tree, but it still bent pretty good.
But you have to keep in mind that these were used when armor was scarce and the blade was encountering leather, horn, flesh and bone.
As to edge holding.. I haven't tested this one yet.. but I have a small knife I made from the same stuff that I use around the house and it will go a long time when just cutting cardboard, twigs, rope, etc. It doesn't do fine cutting well due to the poor refinement of the iron.. it is basically serrated.
I don't know if I proved much.. but I found an excuse to make a sword from wrought iron.
Last edited:
