Avise La Fin

[Joshua States 1,671]

It looks good to me you big bolshy bas....

I'm hoping @Matthew Parkinson shows up here. He's made at least one of these that I know of.

[Brian Dougherty 1,103]

Looking good Rob.  Amazingly straight to my eyes!

 

As I visualize (fantasize?) the quench operation on long blades, one thing that seems like it will be difficult is the transition from horizontal to vertical without letting the balde bend under its own weight. 

 

I assume you grabbed the tang with some tongs and supported the middle with a stick somehow?  How did it go?

[Alan Longmire 2,648]

That'll do!  The bigger the blade the less hard it should ideally be.  If you can file the edge with some difficulty that's a decent indicator.  File on an as-is leaf spring, that's what you're looking for.

[Rob Toneguzzo 778]

7 hours ago, Brian Dougherty said:

Looking good Rob.  Amazingly straight to my eyes!

 

As I visualize (fantasize?) the quench operation on long blades, one thing that seems like it will be difficult is the transition from horizontal to vertical without letting the balde bend under its own weight. 

 

I assume you grabbed the tang with some tongs and supported the middle with a stick somehow?  How did it go?

Hi Brian, I was worried about this too but it turned out to not be a problem.
 

As the floor of the forge was full length flat firebricks and long enough for the whole blade I was able to lay it flat and flip it without bending it to get an even heat throughout.

 

I only slid it back and forth about an inch to avoid hotspots directly under the burners.

when the time came to take it out to normalise x3 then quench I just flipped it on its edge and slid it out using a pair of tongs for mid support as you suggested. 
 

I think a horizontal forge that was shorter than the blade and that you had to be constantly working in and out to get up to heat would be harder to keep straight.
 

I suppose if you had a shorter horizontal forge you could slide a piece of box the length of your blade through the forge and wait for the middle of the box to come up to heat. Even though the ends of the box sticking out of the forge would be colder it would give the flat support as you were sliding the long blade in and out getting the blade up to heat and perhaps stop the sag. If that makes sense.

 

4 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

That'll do!  The bigger the blade the less hard it should ideally be.  If you can file the edge with some difficulty that's a decent indicator.  File on an as-is leaf spring, that's what you're looking for.

Thanks Alan I think it is just a fraction harder than the spring.
 

19 hours ago, Joshua States said:

It looks good to me you big bolshy bas....

Thanks Josh not only are you a wonderful bladesmith you are a true wordsmith as well.

Edited January 13 by Rob Toneguzzo

[Rob Toneguzzo 778]

On 1/6/2021 at 2:25 AM, Alan Longmire said:

With a little luck you might be able to use the remnant heat in the bricks to temper that beast...

 

Hi Alan, I have been further pondering about this.

 

As I was able to get the whole blade to a nice straw doing this (with guesswork) but was very cautious not to overheat as I did not know the retained temp of the bricks.

 

Perhaps in future blades if I fire the forge and get it up to heat and then shut it off and get an infrared thermometer and monitor how long it takes to get the bricks to cool to the correct temper heat and how long they hold at that heat,  I should be able to work out a reasonably accurate way to temper long blades and be able to do repeat cycles.

 

it will require experimentation but may just be the answer i have been searching for..

 

 

 

 

 

I have also been pondering how I am going to make the guard and this is what I have come up with so far and the rest I suppose I will just continue to make up as I go.  

 

I hot punched the tang slot through the guard and marked areas to later forge into the round sections for the quatrefoils however this did not turn out as I had hoped so I have cut them off and will weld sections cut from a round bar on the ends for the quatrefoils and drill and file the holes.

 

I was also racking my brain as to how I was going to bend the guard evenly for the downward sloping quillons when the answer was staring right back at me.

 

My 8lb cut off sledge had the right shape so I clamped it in the leg vice, heated it up and then clamped the slot over the flat top of the hammer and tapped both quillons down.

 

I will have to tweek and refine things a fair bit and file the slot to fit but I am happy with how it is starting to take shape.

 

Here it is pictured sitting on top of the roughly ground blade (still a lot of refining the bevels, fullers, tang etc still required here too)

 

I have a cool idea for the pommel and will post some pics of my idea when I get this guard sorted.

Edited 15 hours ago by Rob Toneguzzo

[Joshua States 1,671]

Brilliant!

 

Use what you have

Do what you can

[Brian Dougherty 1,103]

Nice solution