1095 carbon steel?

1095 carbon steel

I get asked many questions about the construction of swords 1095 carbon steel? and one of the most popular is exactly what varieties of steel should i think are best? If we are talking about a European medieval sword, which we usually are, then your characteristics of an metal should fulfill several qualities. First, the steel should be suitably tough. It has to resist shock well. This blade is heading to (or at least designed to) face wood, cloth, and other metals with regularity. To be able to do this and survive (not break) it must be in a position to b and manipulate the shock properly. Part of this ability has to do with design and heat-treatment but we are just discussing the metal itself. Second the steel must be able to hold an edge reasonably well.

In general we need to take a look at a steel with between 1095 carbon steel? 55 and 75 points of co2 in it. That means between 0. 50% and 0. 75% carbon. A new little carbon goes alongside way. Over the years I have found that steels with a higher carbon content are usually a little frail when utilized in longer blades. Plain carbon steel like 1080 and 1095 work just fine however durability is somewhat less than the other steels we will discuss. Steels with less than 50 points of carbon are generally too soft and do not harden to a great degree, making a blade that will be tough just like be but won't keep an edge and will stay bent if flexed. Alloys with between 50 and 75 points of carbon also help meet our other desire, having an edge. A phrase about sword edges. This is not absolutely essential for a sword to have a razor sharpened thin edge. Taking into account the physics involved you can (and I have on various test mediums) cause tremendous amounts of damage with a toned edge. Obviously a sharpened edge will cut more efficiently. That is after all what we should are looking for; the ability to end a hostile face in the quickest manner possible. A sharp sword helps meet this goal better than a dull one. So we definitely want a blade steel that is going to take and hold a good edge.

So what do I use?

Over the years I have tried out several steels for blade blades. As explained formerly, 1095 carbon steel? 1080 and 1095 work fine but tend to be a little fragile. A broken sword is merely as bad as a bent one, if not worse. 1050, 1060, and 1075 are all excellent plain carbon steels with the right amount of carbon to meet our criteria. S-1 and S-5 are low alloy steels used for chipping and riveting pneumatic tools and as such often take in shock very well. Their particular edge-holding ability leaves just a little to be desired however. 5160 appears to be about ideal in my opinion. 5160 has about 60 points of carbon inside it but also contains several other elements to increase the toughness such as chrome and silicon. Chromium raises the depth penetration of hardening processes and the responsiveness to heat-treatment. Si increases the ultimate tensile strength and hardenability of a steel. Both of these elements are found in small quantities in 5160 (less than 1% each) but this is enough to impart their desirable characteristics into the steel. 5160 is often used in automobile leaf springs (though I actually always use new stainlesss steel bar stock, not recycled springs). It holds an advantage quite well, and withstands shock very well. This specific steel generally seems to me to be about perfect for non-laminated sword blades.

A take note about stainless steels for sword blades. I possess played around with with a variety of stainless alloys for swords blades including 420, 440, ATS34, 154CM, and they all exhibited a higher degree of brittleness; they broke. Companies that use stainless steels for sword blades make up for this by making the blades thicker and tempering them softer making the blade heavy, awkward, and unable to hold an edge well. In order to me this is undesirable. I have tested rotor blades 1095 carbon steel? forged from 5160 (made by myself and others) extensively through the years and with proper design and heat-treatment as well as good forging technique, they perform admirably.