Sword forging...

H

Haze19

Joined
May 15, 2019
Messages
1
Hey, I'm looking for some smart ideas to forge a sword.
We have a sword here bought by my dad long ago and it is affected with corrosion now. In the beginning, I thought to fix it but now decided to forge a new one.
I don't have any prev experience in forging anything. Here is a company of forging manufacturers near me, I'm not sure whether they are into retail business or not, yet I'm going to request a quote from them.
I've 2 questions to ask the sword experts on this board,
(i) How long it takes to forge a sword?
(ii) Which metal is the best for a sword?
In between, I'm new to this forum and hope to get good responses for my first post.
Many thanks!
 
Haze19 said:
Hey, I'm looking for some smart ideas to forge a sword.
We have a sword here bought by my dad long ago and it is affected with corrosion now. In the beginning, I thought to fix it but now decided to forge a new one.
I don't have any prev experience in forging anything. Here is a company of forging manufacturers near me, I'm not sure whether they are into retail business or not, yet I'm going to request a quote from them.
I've 2 questions to ask the sword experts on this board,
(i) How long it takes to forge a sword?
(ii) Which metal is the best for a sword?
In between, I'm new to this forum and hope to get good responses for my first post.
Many thanks!
Click to expand...


(i) If you want to forge the sword yourself, I'd suggest going to a "hammer-in" or gathering of blacksmiths / bladesmiths in your area. That would be the best way to get acquainted with the sort of tools and processes that are used to forge something like a sword blade.

If you want someone else to forge the blade for you, then it would be best to hire a custom bladesmith to fashion the sword for you.

When it comes to making a sword blade, forging is only 1/3 of the process, the others being heat treatment, and grinding. All of the steps are important and take experience and skill to do it right. Then after that comes hilting the sword, which is also important.


(ii) I like titanium best for a sword blade, but I'm a weirdo.

There are a lot of good steels that can be used, but some of them take special heat treatment. You can send out the blade for heat treatment by professionals.
 
Maybe try asking in the makers forum?
https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/shop-talk-bladesmith-questions-and-answers.741/
Steel is the only metal that should be used in swords if you ask me.
If you want to try to forge the sword yourself you will need a lot of help. Forging may seen easy but that is because you usually only see good blacksmiths forging. I suggest trying to making a simple knife yourself first. Something like a full tang puukko styled blade or similar.

Most of the simple steels like 1060,1070,1080 can be heat treated with a so called backyard heat treatment. This means it can be done without much or any special tools.
 
GoldSkula said:
Maybe try asking in the makers forum?
https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/shop-talk-bladesmith-questions-and-answers.741/
Steel is the only metal that should be used in swords if you ask me.
If you want to try to forge the sword yourself you will need a lot of help. Forging may seen easy but that is because you usually only see good blacksmiths forging. I suggest trying to making a simple knife yourself first. Something like a full tang puukko styled blade or similar.

Most of the simple steels like 1060,1070,1080 can be heat treated with a so called backyard heat treatment. This means it can be done without much or any special tools.
Click to expand...

Backyard heat treating something as big as a sword blade is going to require some special tools, at least a long forge + fuel, tongs, big quench tank and quenchant. It would be a lot cheaper to send it out for heat treatment and the results would likely be way better.
 
You don't need a long forge but it helps. You can make a forge with a shovel, steel pipe and hair dryer. If you are going to forge a sword I don't think it unreasonable to assume that you have a pair of tongs. Charcoal is cheap and you can find it in most hardware stores. Vegetable oil can give you good results as a quenchant. You will need a big container to hold the oil but you can figure something out if you are creative about it. I personally haven't used any heat treatment services but to my knowledge they charge 15-30 dollars for knives. I'm not sure but I assume that something like a 80 cm long sword is going to cost more than a 25 cm long kitchen knife. I'm not saying heat treatment services are bad. They give you much more consistent results than a backyard heat treat. I'm just saying that something like a sword is going to cost a lot and some service providers might not even do it at all.

Summary:
-if you are forging a sword you should already have a pair of tongs
-Charcoal is cheap
-Vegetable oil is cheap
-You can make your own forge easily and cheaply
-There is nothing wrong with heat treatment services
 
What kind of sword are you thinking about? The type of sword can affect what steel is good for it.
 
GoldSkula said:
You don't need a long forge but it helps. You can make a forge with a shovel, steel pipe and hair dryer. If you are going to forge a sword I don't think it unreasonable to assume that you have a pair of tongs. Charcoal is cheap and you can find it in most hardware stores. Vegetable oil can give you good results as a quenchant. You will need a big container to hold the oil but you can figure something out if you are creative about it. I personally haven't used any heat treatment services but to my knowledge they charge 15-30 dollars for knives. I'm not sure but I assume that something like a 80 cm long sword is going to cost more than a 25 cm long kitchen knife. I'm not saying heat treatment services are bad. They give you much more consistent results than a backyard heat treat. I'm just saying that something like a sword is going to cost a lot and some service providers might not even do it at all.
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Summary:
-if you are forging a sword you should already have a pair of tongs
-Charcoal is cheap
-Vegetable oil is cheap
-You can make your own forge easily and cheaply
-There is nothing wrong with heat treatment services
Click to expand...


You think a beginner or novice is going to get a good treatment with a marginal coal-fired setup like that? Especially with a sword that isn't a brick (a thin sword blade)? I'm all for DIY sword-making but if it's to be used for practice and not decorum then it should have a reliable heat treatment, imo.

At any rate, if OP goes to a local blacksmith group there will be enthusiastic people there who have the right tools and knowledge to help do it well. You said yourself that without experience it would take a lot of help. :)
 
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Depending on the blade type I believe if you can forge your own sword you are most likely skilful enough to get a good heat treatment with a simple forge setup. I want to clarify that I'm not saying don't use heat treatment services I'm just saying if you are getting help anyways from professional blacksmiths doing your own heat treatment shouldn't be out of the question.

I do think the OP should do quite a lot of practice before trying to forge a sword. Nobodys first project should be a sword even with help from professional blacksmiths. It's like a trying to learn Van Halens solos on your first guitar lesson.
 
GoldSkula said:
Depending on the blade type I believe if you can forge your own sword you are most likely skilful enough to get a good heat treatment with a simple forge setup. I want to clarify that I'm not saying don't use heat treatment services I'm just saying if you are getting help anyways from professional blacksmiths doing your own heat treatment shouldn't be out of the question.

I do think the OP should do quite a lot of practice before trying to forge a sword. Nobodys first project should be a sword even with help from professional blacksmiths. It's like a trying to learn Van Halens solos on your first guitar lesson.
Click to expand...


Aye, you're right. At any rate, OP hasn't returned to give any details of what this sword is even supposed to be! Or whether it was to be self-forged or done by someone else.

To me the thing that sets the HT apart from the forging is that the forging can be done in small sections and sort of learn-as-you-go, while the HT requires a sword-length heating thingy (the "special" equipment), and also takes more XP.
 
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