Spring steel?

Scrapyard and old car leafsprings.

The spring steel must be of the commercially available variety (old designation EN45 or EN45a) used for making car leaf springs - we use it for making combat swords as it has the correct blend of toughness & hardness. Mild steel cannot be anything but case hardened & will not take the punishment.

A good spring steel sword will last for years of re-enactment.

We cannot use old car springs as they are completely unpredictable - one might last years, another break first time out.

Regards,

Kim

EN45 would be a strange steel for leafsprings. However you'll find it in RWD van halfshafts (or closer to it) and they don't have the same problem of pre-existing cracks.

The "microcracking in leafsprings" argument is bollocks. The cracks might indeed be in there, but they're no worse to deal with than any other sort of cold shut. The defence against them is in the hands of the smith.

rec.knives is a useful resource on this, especially the excellent FAQs

If you're _that_ bothered about fracture in swords, and how they behave if they do break, doesn't it mean you have to start using the maraging steels? (probably the rampaging steels for you lot!)

For sheer aspirational steel fetishism

We first purchased EN45 spring steel from Stones Springs in Midland Road, Bristol in the early 1980's. They made car & commercial suspension springs on the premises. We have always understood that it was the industry standard & remains so even though the identification code has changed, probably twice.

We tried re-working car leaf springs & they always broke. Someone in a university did a cross section sample of new and used steel & found there was significant growth in crystal size in the re-used sample, so as we don't want bits of steel whizzing off into the audience, we have never used it since!

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Only a Biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.

Bollocks. This Victorian notion of "Fracture mechanism by crystal growth" was discredited in the 19th century, after studies of railway axles. Its debunking is the core of C S Smith's well-known book, "History of Metallography".

Recycled springs are known to have problems with cracking, but it's not by "crystal growth". It's also possible for smithing (probably needing a power hammer though) to avoid this during their re- manufacture.

It seems I am misinformed. However, the result is the same.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn