differential tempered EUROPEAN swords

iceprince · 2008-09-08T13:35:46+00:00

Is there anyone that produces differential tempered EUROPEAN swords ?( slightly off topic )And, Would filling the fuller of a sword with a similar clay as used in heat treating Japanese swords work as a technique to increase this differential tempering effect ? Maybe leaving the edges at 52 to 54 R.C. and with the center of the blade in the 40 to 45 R.C. (Just guessing here as to the numbers.)Any idea if European swordsmiths ever used this technique ? Or did they use different ways to get a similar effect. I have seen a tool that resembled a tong that perhaps was used to apply heat to the center of the blade to retemper it. This would be done by heating the ends of the "tong" hot enough that touching the fuller of the blade would turn it blue quickly. You need to do this on both sides simultaneously, then need to cool immediately {water}, or you risk softening the edges too.Doing something like this gives a hard edge, and a softer body. Today, Tinker does something like this to "differentially temper" his blades, and he comes up with an edge of 58 to 60rc, and a body of 46 to 48 rc. This also gives you a very different product than traditional differential hardening, the Japanese way.Even without the antique tools, differential tempering makes sense. We know that many of the older antiques exhibit varying hardness', and we know that many of them exhibit a springiness to them. Pearlite isn't overly springy, its tough, tends to bend {take a set} relatively easy compared to the same crossection martensite.....We have texts from the 16th C about the tempering of steel and those show us that there was a developed understanding of the effects of heat, cooling rate and degrees of temper of steel. Although there was no concept of carbon content.Steel used varied as well. From the rather crude to material of very high quality.When heat treating simple carbon steel, and especially in a very fine grain structure (as you would want in a sword blade) the ability to harden gets...

Sep 08, 2008 22 Replies

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Martin H. Eastburn 18 years ago

As the ice melted in areas in Greenland, they have found mines that were from very old days and now have some more history to log and write about.

The same thing happened in the Alps.

People have forgotten we were recovering from an ice age and then a little ice age.

The climate change is from Solar output increase that hasn't been explained. Mars lost the snow caps. I don't thing the rovers generated that much heat.

Martin

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