Sword build: Forged titanium alloy Zweihänder

Mecha

Mecha

Titanium Bladesmith
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
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A nagging question generated by the concept of titanium as a sword material is, "If it's light weight, why not make a huge sword?" Indeed, a blade made of a suitable titanium alloy seems to get better as it gets larger. Presented for your scrutiny and enjoyment, the making of a Zweihänder sword forged of a super tough alloy of titanium, grade 23 - known as 6al4v ELI.

Extra-Low Interstitial refers to the amount of oxygen within the alloy's matrix. The properties of titanium are strongly affected by the amount of oxygen and nitrogen present, to the point where minute differences of these elements constitute new grade numbers of the alloys. Grade 23, an alpha-beta alloy which was popular for use as human implants, was recently displaced for that purpose by a newer alloy that replaced the toxic vanadium beta alloying element with niobium, which is biocompatibly neutral.

In Western Europe during the 1500s, the huge Zweihänder was the sword of choice for the Landsknecht Doppelsöldner, or "double-pay" soldier, who would lead the vanguard and ferociously smash the pike formations of the enemy of the day.

It all begins with a huge 1" round stock bar 3 feet long, of grade 23 ti.

i3mx8wr.jpg


Leaning on the table is the sword billet after the trip hammer work. Now comes a lot of forging by hand and fly press. The two handguards will also be forged of the same alloy, while the pommel is intended to be silicon bronze for weight and beauty.

lO2IML5.jpg


My shop is set up to handle my normal and relatively small beta titanium stock, used make small and medium-sized swords. The zweihänder taxes my tools, but good luck! Blacksmith "Bear" of Glenwood, OR, has a perfect swordsmithing trip hammer he was kind enough to let me use for this project. This 100-lb trip hammer, made in Vermont, is about 120 years old.

[video=youtube;lLx0SWDpRz0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLx0SWDpRz0&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
mete said:
I'm still confused by the probability of Nitrogen and Oxygen absorbtion by the Ti ?? Mecha, do you have any references for that ?

http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2626
Click to expand...

Mete, that's an excellent article for anyone who wants to forge ti with a hammer!

The article below discusses it briefly. The atmospheric contaminants are controlled during the smelting operation, so in effect a titanium grade can change based on how much oxygen (and nitrogen) are left in the alloy and not "decontaminated" out. In solid form, the more heat and soak time applied to the metal, the worse the contamination can get. The metal stays reasonably pure in the open atmosphere at lower forging temperatures with no soak time, and the more heavily-contaminated surface of the billet is ground off as the sword is shaped.

http://www.totalmateria.com/Article120.htm

This list of titanium grades shows that there are really only a few different standard alloys, with different designations/properties based on oxygen content:

http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/titaniumgrades.htm

Of course there are many titanium aerospace and specialty alloys that have no grade number.

Oxygen is the main gas one is concerned with because minute amounts effects the metal's properties so dramatically, but techniques to shield the metal from contamination (liquid glass, stainless steel foil, inert atmosphere, fiberglass sheet, etc.) are concerned with the open atmosphere in general, as hot titanium reacts quickly with most surrounding gasses. I'll try to dig up some of the references I've read on the subject. Some of my best information has come from personal conversations with titanium metallurgists and engineer types, who clued me in to titanium hydrides and sulphides, and discussed the shielding effects of niobium.

The niobium-alloyed beta metal I usually use for normal-sized swords is "self-shielding," and stays almost completely pure, allowing the blade to exhibit the beauty of the hand-forged billet without detriment to the performance of the blade's metal. I will be sending two pieces of the beta alloy in for analysis, one forged and one stock, to scrutinize for levels of contamination resulting from the open forging process. As the standard ti grades show, a little bit of contamination can be a good thing. It's a fine line between contamination and microalloying, perhaps ultimately the difference is simply whether the elements are desired or not.
 
That's interesting .Keep searching. BTW I see that Ric Furrer [IforgeIron ] mentions using a protective coating , lubricating and reducing gas absorption.
 
Apologies for the crappy photo. Here is the billet after a few good runs of fly press work and hand-forging. Some shaping of the tang and refinement of the blade, and this sword is heading to grinder city for rough shaping! It's about 5 feet long and exhibits a healthy distal taper.

ErcWvdV.jpg
 
HOLY... awesome! and not just because the landsknechte are a known tradition in my hometown... this looks really promising!
 
Thanks evltcat, and everyone else! vilePossum, I'll do my best to make this sword exceed the needs of the finest of Landsknecht.
 
Would a Zweihänder made from titanium be so light that it could be held with One hand instead of Zwei?
 
Video is..well. dont wanna get banned but it's awesome.

YAAAAAAAAGGGHHH! _kerrrrrrr-snapppppp
 
:thumbup:'If it's lightweight, why not make a huge sword?' Why not indeed! This should be very cool, and very interesting. That century+ old trip-hammer is one awesome tool that looks like it was built for the purposes of Vulcan himself. 6Al4V Ti + giant sword = brilliant. :D
 
Mecha said:
Apologies for the crappy photo. Here is the billet after a few good runs of fly press work and hand-forging. Some shaping of the tang and refinement of the blade, and this sword is heading to grinder city for rough shaping! It's about 5 feet long and exhibits a healthy distal taper.

ErcWvdV.jpg
Click to expand...

holy $#!^
 
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