what is the best way to shape steel?

Question

I wish to make a strong blade

Answer 1

There are good answers here,(Above).

Much depends on what you have to work with.
I am a toolmaker as well as a Martial Artist.
The one machine that knife makers use most often is a "Belt Sander". You can change from very coarse to fine grit in a few seconds.
My friend "Tony Swatton" owner of "The Sword And The Stone"
who is just down the street here in Burbank has several.
I wanted to mention the importance of "which" steel you chose
"very Important"
I suggest you research this before starting your project.
There are kits available that come with a blank piece of heat
treated steel,handle material ,and the rivets.
Go to Tony's website to see some great stuff.

Good luck with your project!

Answer 2

prpipes1 is the closest to the correct answer. I dont think is was varing metals of hardness. If you got real hard steel that holds an edge it is very brittle and breaks in combat. They took that same steel and folded it. heat it up and fold it you have 2 layers, again and you have 4 layers again, 8 layers and so on. So at 12 folds you have over 4000 layers paperthin layers of super hard steel. So you get the flexibility of paper thin metal and the stay sharp hardness of hi-carbon steel. Now if you use Coal, real coal to do the heating it will keep the hi tensil strenth of your steel. You will also have to rememeber on the last heat of the sword is to quik cool the edge for extra hardness. You may want to look up Tempering steel. Some Japanese used layers of mud on the sword when heating or cooling off as to control the cooling time for tempering the different sections of the steel. If I was you I would start making a knife. You need a coal burning stove, a good hair dryer will do for billows, and anvil and a good hammer. Don't invest to much to make sure you want to do this as a hobby or whatever because a good hammerwelded steel is tedious. Oh, just as a sid note I saw a documentary a while back the Japanese don't use hammers much anymore on their expensive swords, they have a hydrolic hammer that hits about 5 time per second and takes some of the initial manuel work out of it.
Hope this helps

Answer 3

Fire, forge, hammer, and anvil. Oh, yeah, and a good quenching brine. You need to have blacksmithing skills to do this. It is a very complex process and needs the skills of a professional bladesmith. If you are just starting out, you will probably make too brittle a blade and it will break easily. It takes time, patience, and practice to pull this off. Sorry.

If you have the space at your home to set up an area for blacksmithing, then learn all you can and practice a lot.

I wish you luck, friend.

Answer 4

Here is the simplest explanation of steel folding I could Find. I understand the Basic Tech in this so if you have any questions feel free to ask more
Paul
One way the Japanese sword makers solved the problem was to hammer together layers of steel of varying hardness welding them into a metal sandwich. This sandwich of metal layers was then reheated, folded back on itself and hammered out thin again. After this had been repeated about a dozen times, the steel consisted of thousands of paper-thin lamination's of hard and soft metal. When it was ground to a sharp edge the hard metal stood out and resisted dulling, while the soft steel kept the sword from breaking.

Answer 5

I wouldn't try it without someone very experienced in sword making and a ton of moneys to backyou up.

It take many years to learn how to make a good blade and even after you make it, it's basically worthless because you can't carry it around otherwise you'll get arrest and no one will really care if you have it. Most people think regular sword in store are good enough to fight with so they will not care if you make one.

Answer 6

Wow...

Um I would say get it really hot in a fire and then use some tools to make it sharp, like a sharpening tool...

I dont really know. Sorry. Good luck and all the best.

Answer 7

you have to weld it into the steel

Answer 8

I don't know.

Answer 9

punch it.