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216:, not forged. Secondary operations involve removing material from the roughcasting, polishing, and the application of decorative elements. Some Chinese swords used high-tin bronze for the edges, since it is harder, and keeps a sharp edge longer, but is more brittle than the softer, lower-tin alloy used for the blade's core. Bronze alloys with lower tin content are tougher, or more resistant to fracturing.
263:. While the technique has been available for centuries it was not widely used for making swords until the 19th or 20th century as it is wasteful of the raw material. Where iron and steel are plentiful this method is frequently used as it requires less time. In places and times where iron and steel have been more rare and valuable stock removal has not been used except as part of the finishing process.
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the billet might be drawn, folded and welded back on itself creating layers of steel of different types. In others longer bars or rods of steel and iron might be welded together, edge to edge, to create the basic billet placing the softer iron inside with the steel at the core and edges. Once the billet is created it is drawn out farther, generally tapering to the edge(s) and point. The technique of
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311:. The blade is then carefully and evenly heated and afterwards cooled slowly. The point of normalizing is to remove the stresses which may have built up within the body of the blade while it was being forged. During the forging process, the blade might be heated and cooled differentially creating stress, some parts might be hammered more than others, some areas hammered enough to
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tedious, but a good polisher was of great value to the swordsmith and was often paid well. After the sword was polished, the fine tip could be sharpened. The sharpness of a sword, and ability to keep that edge, is based on the angle of the edge and the width of the body of the sword. How long it can hold the edge is also dependent on the material used.
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Swords are still being made by modern artisans. Some pursue the traditional methods while others apply modern tools, techniques and materials to the craft. The vast majority of commercially available swords have been made with modern tools and materials as it brings greater profit and less time than
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Once the blade had been heat-treated, a sword would be ground with progressively finer abrasives, typically different types of rock. Some grinding rocks can range in the thousands of dollars today. They would polish and sharpen the sword until the desired finish was achieved. This process is long and
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nuggets and forges them into a block. In the process of forming, the block is heated to around 900 degrees
Celsius. Taken out of the fire and hammered into a thinner block, the block is scored in the center with an axe and folded over, making it thick again. The block is then placed back in the fire.
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In most techniques, the basic materials, generally iron and/or steel, are shaped into a bar or billet first. At this stage, if several metals are to be used they will be combined by welding to form the billet. In some techniques, notably the traditional folded steel blades of China, Korea, and Japan,
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A good sword has to be hard enough to hold an edge along a length which can range from 18 in (46 cm) to more than 36 in (91 cm). At the same time, it must be strong enough and flexible enough that it can absorb massive shocks at just about any point along its length and not crack
446:. This allows the sword to have the strength and the ability to hold a sharp edge, as well as to cause the sword to tend to bend rather than flex under stress. The process starts in the combining of the iron and carbon, by heating iron sand to 1200-1500 degrees Celsius in a traditional furnace, or
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them. If these stresses are left in the blade they could affect the finishing and when it came time to heat treat the blade, the hardening and tempering might not be as even. Potentially enough stress could be added that the blade would be weak in spots, weak enough that it could fail under enough
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Forging uses heat to bring the material to a malleable state. The material is then hammered to shape, typically using hammer and anvil together with specialized set and fuller tools depending on the particular technique. There is a variety of forging techniques for sword making and many variations
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It has been speculated by researchers that swordsmithing has been performed in the northern regions of Italy since at least the 10th
Century BCE. Especially areas around Tuscany and Brescia had rich iron ore veins and forests that were conducive to the creation of charcoal for high-heat iron
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The swordsmith would be most concerned with the state of the blade itself and possibly decorating the blade and preparing the guards and pommel. Other artisans would likely be involved in the work of fashioning the hilt, sheath and other furniture; and in any fine decoration.
331:. To restore some ductility and durability the sword is tempered. With swords, due to their length, the challenge is greater as in a typical quenching it is possible to bend or warp the blade if it is not introduced to the quenchant smoothly and evenly.
473:, is repeated from 8 to as many as 16 times. After 20 foldings, there is too much diffusion in the carbon content; the steel becomes almost homogeneous in this respect, and the act of folding no longer gives any benefit to the steel.
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smithing. Brescia remained an important swordsmithing and steel manufacturing hub for centuries due to the high manganese content of the local iron ore deposits, which assisted in the creation of high-quality steel.
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might be used to create a ridge or ridges down the length of the blade. Whether single or multiple, the ridge's primary purpose to give the blade greater structural strength relative to its mass.
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have been made of different materials over the centuries, with a variety of tools and techniques. While there are many criteria for evaluating a sword, generally the four key criteria are
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Japanese smiths discovered, similarly to many others, that iron sand (with little to no sulfur and phosphorus) heated together with coal (carbon) made the steel they called
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484:, which is often used for the sides and the back. Once the sword took the shape the swordsmith wanted, the swordsmith would clay the spine of the sword, called
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techniques. In some times and places, one technique has been used exclusively, in others a combination of techniques have been used. The primary techniques are
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The steel can be folded transversely or longitudinally. Often both folding directions are used to produce the desired grain pattern. This process, called the
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Archaeometallurgical
Investigation on Historical Sword-Making Techniques in Northern Italy Between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
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to relieve stresses built up from forging and differential heating, and to make the metal easier to file, engrave or polish.
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Depending on the amount of carbon introduced, this process forms either the very hard steel for the edge called
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Stock removal shapes the sword from prepared stock that is larger in all dimensions than the finished sword by
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or break. Finally, it should be balanced along its length so that it can be wielded effectively.
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Tonelli, Gabriele; Faccoli, Michela; Gotti, Roberto; Cornacchia, Giovanna (11 November 2022).
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A diagram of a pre-industrial "Brescian Forge", typical of
Northern Italian steel works.
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it. Quenching hardens the metal so it holds an edge longer but this also makes it very
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is then cooled and the smelter selects the best pieces to send to the swordsmith.
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hand forging. Most commercially available swords have been manufactured by
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the blade. Then he would pass it on to a polisher and finisher.
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619:: Several good articles on sword making link from this page.
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As one of the last processes in fabricating a sword is
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625:: Helps dispel the myth of the superior sword.
603:by Cyril Smith - The MIT Press 1960 Page 53-54
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44:adding citations to reliable sources
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623:As Ancient An Art As Sword Making
208:Apa type swords, 17th century BC.
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180:was an early example of swords
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617:Anvilfire.com Armory Articles
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601:A History of Metallography
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38:Please help
33:verification
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937:Swordsmiths
881:Fabrication
859:Trip hammer
854:Swage block
839:Hardy tools
747:Silversmith
742:Pewtersmith
722:Coppersmith
471:shita-kitae
301:Philippines
245:Philippines
139:flexibility
123:bladesmiths
931:Categories
901:Metallurgy
788:Planishing
762:Whitesmith
717:Bladesmith
712:Blacksmith
547:References
536:Sharpening
466:tamahagane
460:Swordsmith
454:tamahagane
443:tamahagane
435:Tamahagane
358:By country
309:normalized
66:newspapers
896:Machining
891:Jewellery
771:Processes
737:Locksmith
727:Goldsmith
582:cite book
494:hardening
486:tsuchioki
348:polishing
342:Finishing
325:tempering
321:quenching
299:from the
269:fullering
906:Smithing
844:Pritchel
757:Tinsmith
732:Gunsmith
698:Smithing
530:See also
490:quenched
482:kawagane
316:stress.
276:annealed
257:grinding
159:stronger
153:easily.
149:, which
135:strength
131:hardness
916:Welding
886:Forming
876:Casting
803:Swaging
798:Sinking
793:Raising
778:Forging
426:Forging
329:brittle
261:cutting
230:forging
220:Forming
178:gladius
171:tougher
165:in the
143:balance
80:scholar
834:Hammer
829:Fuller
752:Tinker
705:Smiths
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478:hagane
449:tatara
313:harden
253:filing
186:blooms
182:forged
155:Bronze
147:copper
127:Swords
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824:Forge
819:Anvil
812:Tools
415:Japan
398:Italy
297:Kalis
190:steel
184:from
175:Roman
167:alloy
151:bends
87:JSTOR
73:books
588:link
568:ISBN
323:and
259:and
214:cast
141:and
59:news
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188:of
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