dismounting a peened tang

done- not even a little bit.

fuller was ground in, so the

billet. The inserts are

short fat block of base and beat

it under the hammer to draw

then grind a blade out of it.

Probably, but this way would support the elongation of the inserts, and it would be the simplist and easiest construction. Blacksmiths are a lazy lot, the fewer hammer blows in the heat, the better.

Charly

Charles, From a historical perspective, I have never seen or heard of a technique supporting your theory of construction:

Given how compulsive oriental smiths are about following accepted techniques and traditions also makes your theory dubious. Furthermore, a blade with a solid hard core supported by outer scales of softer metal would be structurally better than a soft bar with inserts of harder material. That's they way I see's it anyway.

Glen G.

"caterbro" wrote

Yeah; in fact, I've always called it 'riding the weapon', as a technical concept.

Yeah; they used to fight with them you know ;-) Nice condition swords are what got left home in granny's underwear drawer.

Would you have your own scars buffed off? Bring it back to fighting fit- let it be what it is. I collect SEAsian stuff- I want to see the scuffs and bumps. The weapon I want to own is the one he carried into battle, not the one he took to the parade.

There are a few that stand out; that cup-hilt rapier was a booger, I had a landsknecht's sword- Swiss probably late 15th, early 16th cent; an Italian schiavonna, a late eighteenth or early nineteenth cent. French boarding cutlass, an eighteenth cent. Scots broadsword- great stuff. There are some blades that make you just want to go out and get something. I've had some good asian swords also- some indo-persian stuff that was just outstanding by any standard.

Chas

Well Glen, you come up with a viable construction technique that matches what we're looking at in the fotos. No one has even determined the age of this piece with any certainty, it could be up to 1000 years old and you wouldn't be able to tell from a foto on the Web. Or it could be made last week. I looked at the fotos, and this was the answer that the Engineer came up with. I know the technique works, that of dimensional transformation, and it explains the welds and the elongation of the inserts. I've seen that silver flash before, usually in +1% chrome alloys, and the darker substrate screams carbon steel. Since the fotos appear to indicate a flush surface bevel, it would be damn hard to incise scallops to reveal half oval inserts during fabrication, so that pretty much eliminates a hard core with a side panel sandwich, unless the sides were pre cut to shape, and then there'd still be distortion during welding. My way is easier, time is money. And... a hard core is more prone to failure under bending force than a soft core. Granted, the yield point will be higher, but hard things shatter where soft things bend.

Charly

glen wrote in :

nah- you want the give in the middle, so it's doesn't shatter. the edges were, AFAIK, the harder steel in these swords, some examples have complex temper lines, some have inserted hard steel edges, some have both.

after all, it's a sword- the edges need to take the abuse and do the cutting, and the body needs to absorb the shock.

carl

glen wrote in :

he's passed on, but he taught Yang family taiji and northern mantis. I study with one of his students here are there.

sehr interessant- it would be neat to see your techniqure and see what you make of how this blade handles.

carl

Guy's, Wish we had some cross sectional photo micrographs eh. Carls photo's were a bit fuzzy and the color was off and that makes surveying a crap shoot at best? And what do I know, I'm just a dumb ass smith. The "incising" to create the scalloped pattern would be done cold Charly. It's really not that difficult just time consuming.

Hey Carl, why don't you hack off a 1/2" or so of the blade tip and I'll send it to my buddies at Carnegie Mellon. Just kidding! What is life without some mysteries, eh?

Glen

Hey Carl, Send me a real e-mail address and we can discuss tai ji and stuff like that.

Glen Gardner, in Pittsburgh

So guy's, Is this thread dead? Seems like we had a lively thing going here. Oh, i get it, everyone is too busy in the shop to be e-mailing....................right?

GG

I see only you on this one. Take care. Maybe they are watching Baseball or something. Hum - maybe hundred or so weddings around a anvil :-)

Best Regards, Martin