Talonite as a Sword Steel ???

[Adamant]

Having heard so much about the stainless and edge-holding qualities of talonite as a knife blade, I am naturally curious about the possibility of using it in a sword blade (maybe a short sword). What do you guys think? Hope I am not asking a stupid question...

I extracted the following info. from www.talonite.com

"If tool steel stays sharp for 6 - 8 hours then Talonite® will retain an edge for 12 - 14 days... ...

Superalloys were developed for applications such as super turbochargers and aircraft turbine engines. These are applications where the alloy encounters severe mechanical stressing and it must have high temperature strengths, surface stability, resistance to high temperature erosion and resistance to corrosion... ...


Talonite® specifications:

Density .30 pounds per cubic inch
Hardness Rockwell C 41 - 49
Young's Modulus 30,000,000
Ultimate tensile 190, 000
Yield @ .2% offset 118, 000
Elongation percentage 4.5
Annealing temperature 2200 - 2300 ° F
Melting point 2600 - 2700° F


Tests run with a piece of metal that is about .161" thick x .710" wide.

1. How strong is it?
I took an eighteen-inch piece and beat it hard and long against the edge of a vise. There were some impact marks but no dents, nicks or anything else.

2. Does it bend?
We took an eighteen-inch piece and clamped it in a vice and bent it about 90 degrees with just a big guy pushing on it.

3. Does it break?
It snapped at about 90 degrees.

4. Is it springy?
It springs back clean from about 80 degrees bend.

5. Hang Test
I took a piece and jammed it in the top sill of a steel door. Then I hung from it. I had both hands, one behind the other, with one hand next to the door. I weigh 222 pounds as of this morning."


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History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen. ~Enoch Powell, Speech to the British Conservative Party Conference, 1967~

 

[HJK]

I've got to think that talonite would be too soft for a sword. I am going to a 7" talonite blade by Rob Simonich through Les Robertson, but I'm even nervous about the suitability of talonite for a blade that long.

 

[Adamant]

Tom Mayo makes a talonite combat knife that looks like it has an > 7" blade...

See it at www.mayoknives.com. Click on "Knives" and see this blade at the botoom left of the page.

Probably thicker stock helps to prevent flexibility for longer blades? But it'll increase weight and cost...Guess talonite might be as impractical as titanium for sword steel

Adamant

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History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen. ~Enoch Powell, Speech to the British Conservative Party Conference, 1967~

 

[tallwingedgoat]

Edge holding is not a big deal with swords, it's used to slay the enemy, not do chores. No warrior ever needed to cut down thousands in one day.

Rust is not a big deal. Never heard of anyone that died because their sword rusted. It's usualy fairly easy to take care of. A little tender loving care makes the user more respectful and become better acquainted with the sword. Which is a good thing.

Talonite is heavier than steel, I don't know by how much, but this is not a good thing. Lighter is better. Light is speed, speed is life.

I don't know if Talonite is tougher than steel, I kinda doubt it. Improved toughness would be nice. But there's currently no known metal tougher than steel by unit of volume.




[This message has been edited by tallwingedgoat (edited 06-20-2001).]

 

[HJK]

I don't know how I missed that Mayo. It sure does look good!

 

[judge]

That Mayo belongs to Ray Lhotak, admin/owner of www.messerforum.net (premier German language knife discussion board) His knife gallery is at http://lhotak.messerforum.net , click on the switch "Messer" on the left.
I don´t think Talonite would be suited as a sword blade material, too fragile. Although Kit Carson says he has yet to see one of his larger Stellite dive knives fail.
Rob Simonich did some testing with larger Talonite blades and posted the results here as far as I remember, you might want to search for that.

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"Peace is not without conflict; it is the ability to cope with conflict" - Leo Giron

[This message has been edited by judge (edited 06-23-2001).]

 

[Dangus]

5160 is hands down the best sword material IMO. Properly treated, I can take a blade of it at sword length and bend the blade into a loop and come back to true. That means I can make the tip touch the tang. That is impressive steel. Carbon steel can sometimes do that if you have a really great piece, but not usually.

My favorite method that I have seen in the blades of another is to take three metals, 5160, D2(I think), and nickel and then take that sheet nickel and wrap it around 3 of the 4 sides of the D2, tacking it in place with a welder if necessary to hold it, and then making another bar like that, both are like 1/4x1/4x25" then place them on top of a piece of flat 5160 that is about 1/16" thick and 25 inches long by 2 inches wide. Each one goes along the edge with the exposed side of the tool steel sticking out. Between them is placed a piece of 5160 bar stock to fill the center gap. Then after that I'm not entirely sure what he does cause he won't show anyone, but I know he works it some like that and then adds another piece of flat 5160, lengthens it and then hammers the two sides together at the tip and then makes s gap up there and puts in another piece of tool steel and nickel. I wish I knew more details on it, but like I said, he will only discuss so much. His heat treatment is similarly closely gaurded, cause I imagine it is quite involved and bizarre due to the combo materials. All said and done though, he has a blade that looks a bit strange insofar as it is not worked into any pattern, but flexes and cuts incredibly well. I don't see him much but I may go out there in two weeks so I will let you know if I figure anything out.