Good blade steel costs real money, and that price keeps a lot of curious people from ever lighting a forge. The maker set out to show the opposite: that a worthwhile blade can come from material that costs nothing, and in doing so hopefully pull more newcomers into the forging hobby. Turning a piece of scavenged railroad spring steel into a short sword is a strong way to make that point.
The work starts at the fire. The spring goes into a propane forge first, then the billet gets straightened on the anvil with tongs, hoof nippers and a rounding hammer. From there it is lengthened and tapered, worked down to a pointed tip, and a hidden tang is drawn out after the forging is done. The profile gets cleaned up and the bevel edges are ground on a 2x72 belt grinder.
The heat treatment looks careful: the blade is heated in the forge and quenched intermittently in oil, then tempered in an oven. The hardware side is just as considered. The guard slot is cut on a milling machine, the handle blocks are drilled, and the tang end is threaded with a die. A conical pommel nut is machined on a lathe, the assembled handle is shaped on the belt grinder and with hand files, then wiped with oil. Ebony and curly maple blocks make up the grip, and the acid etch in ferric chloride gives the blade its finish.
One honest stumble along the way: the hot steel got dropped at one point during forging. It clearly did not stop the project, but it is a reminder of how unforgiving this work can be. My only open question is how that slick hardwood grip feels in the hand over a long cutting session; the maker has not addressed grip texture as far as I have seen.
Project by Aleeknives. Watch it on their YouTube channel: