Today, I finished on making my own katana, while I still know how, I will show you how to MAKE your own sword.
WARNING: there are quite the risks of burning yourself doing this, I would recemmend that if you are a kid, you have an adult next to you.
And also, a note for the professional blacksmiths/swordsmiths: Please don't correct as (Ex: no you dont do that you first gotta do all this!) kind of stuff, if you want that professional swordsmith stuff, make your own. This is for people who probably know nothing about making swords, or just getting into the hobby.
First, you should consider what steel you are using:
Stainless - good for display, but nothing more, any blade longer than 15 inches is terrible if made out of this steel, but it is cheap.
Carbon Steel - if you want a ready-to-duel sword, this is the steel you should use, or better steel, although, steel like this will take alot of maintenence to keep from rust.
Damascus Steel - best steel you could use, but processing the steel is impossible if you are even the slightest bit impatient, the steel is expensive too, but if you can, use this steel.
To start here is what you need:
A forge (Cut a steel drum in half, then put wood and charcoal in there, and you got a basic forge which will do the job)
A hammer (Use a hammer, not your fingers! use only a steel hammer, to avoid the hammer melting)
A steel to be used as an anvil (any piece of metal with a high melting point will work, tungsten metal, for example)
Desired Steel (this is the steel you will turn into a sword)
Wood (or anything that could be used for the handle)
more wood (for the pommel, which goes on the end of the sword)
Cutting tools (to cut the wood into desired shape)
Step 1:
start up your fire, heat up the steel to a glowing red color!
Step 2:
on one end, hammer it into a long and (Somewhat) narrow handle, this is the tang of the sword, which is what goes inside the handle and is welded into the pommel or screwed into the handle, the thicker the better, but don't make it too bulky or your sword wont look all that cool!
Step 3:
Make the blade longer, to do this, heat up the blade, then at an angle on your anvil, hammer 3 times, move the blade about a centimeter, hammer 3 times, repeat until your blade is as long as you want.
Step 4:
Your blade is probably a little bent from that hammering, so lets heat it up, and flatten it with your hammer.
Step 5:
This step can be done two ways, if you have a really good saw, then cut the point at the end of your sword out, or heat the end up, and hammer it into shape, do not fully sharpen the point, because it will just keep falling off when try to heat it up, we will sharpen it later.
Step 6:
work on making the side symmetrical, if you don't, your sword wont look nice when it is done.
dont make it sharp while doing this, same reason as before.
Step 7:
Now, heat the ENTIRE blade up in the forge, until it is red hot keep an eye on it (Turn OFF the TV) and make sure it is being heated nice and even. once it is red hot, put it in water, do this a couple times, repeat only this time turn down the fire slowly (The sword could shatter if you do it quickly) let it cool by air, now during this, wait about 30 minutes, after that, time to polish the blade, sharpen it!
Step 8:
Start with a belt grinder, and sharpen the blade, smooth out the entire blade. especially smooth out the tang, then move down to files, then 100-grit sandpaper to finish it up.
Step 9:
Time to make a guard! cut out the piece of wood and carve it into shape, then drill a slit for the tang to fit in, hammer the guard in (Guard will work better if made of steel) the tang.
Step 10:
make a handle out of the wood, drill out the slit for the tang, and put it on the tang, now, you can use a metal pommel and weld the end of the tang, or heat it up and hammer it down so it wont fall out.
after all that, you have an awesome sword! anything wrong on here, tell me! and possibly even post a picture of your sword if you actually make one!
Ohhh now I'm tempted to make a tutorial on making a wall mount for these swords!
As much as I love your tutorial, I'm not sure if this will be aloud. I mean, this website is Beyblade witch is meant for kids. So trying to make a sword using this may hurt them.
I'll leave this up to Tr! or someone, though.
But remember, there are some people on this site who are over 18.
Most though are young kids. I doubt my parents would let me use fire to make a sword at the age of 13, hah.
I'm certainly more familiar with the knifesmithing process, but perhaps the same concepts are applicable.
You will probably want to get an air source blowing onthe coals at the botom of the forge to supply more oxygen for combustion to you can get a higher temperature, either bellows or a hair dryer setup would work.
You may wish to epoxy the handle and guard since it's difficult/impossible to get a tight enough fit simply from drilling the hole for the tang to slot the tang in.
Don't know whether this is applicable to swords, but you didn't mention the hardening process (heat then rapid quench).
Apart from that a very solid tutorial, nice one.
on the kids possibly getting hurt part, fixing that right now on the first line.
(Jun. 09, 2014 2:37 PM)Bastion Wrote: [ -> ]I'm certainly more familiar with the knifesmithing process, but perhaps the same concepts are applicable.
You will probably want to get an air source blowing onthe coals at the botom of the forge to supply more oxygen for combustion to you can get a higher temperature, either bellows or a hair dryer setup would work.
You may wish to epoxy the handle and guard since it's difficult/impossible to get a tight enough fit simply from drilling the hole for the tang to slot the tang in.
Don't know whether this is applicable to swords, but you didn't mention the hardening process (heat then rapid quench).
Apart from that a very solid tutorial, nice one.
that heat and rapid quench technique is hardening or what most people call heat treating, it is effective, but should be used on carbon or damascus steel, given stainless is too brittle as a sword.
That's more better. Anyway, I like you guide. I'll be sure to test this out and post about how it went, hah. I think I'll try get something that looks close to the Dark Repulser.
Thanks for the guide!
(Jun. 09, 2014 6:23 PM)Ryûzaki Wrote: [ -> ]That's more better. Anyway, I like you guide. I'll be sure to test this out and post about how it went, hah. I think I'll try get something that looks close to the Dark Repulser.
Thanks for the guide!
as beginners go, Dark repulser would be hard to forge, the traditional way to make a sword was forging, for more fantasy style swords, cutting the sword out, then make the handle, pommel, the extra parts given Dark Repulser has blue parts that make it look like a diamond sword. overall, a good start for forging would be to make a British Longsword, its the easiest sword to forge, and yet, pretty good.
I did it!I made 2 swords,because I like dual fighting!!!!Currntly cutting young trees to piecesXD
(Jun. 09, 2014 6:54 PM)King E.Emperor Wrote: [ -> ]I did it!I made 2 swords,because I like dual fighting!!!!Currntly cutting young trees to piecesXD
glad to hear.
if you want an effective cutting test target, try wrapping newspaper around a dual rod paper is pretty hard to cut through cleanly, making it a good test for swords, bonus if you cut through the wooden dual rod
(Jun. 09, 2014 6:18 PM)MasterSwordsman Wrote: [ -> ]that heat and rapid quench technique is hardening or what most people call heat treating, it is effective, but should be used on carbon or damascus steel, given stainless is too brittle as a sword.
My point is that you never mentioned hardening at all. Without it you'd be left with a long piece of soft annealed steel. I did not think not heat treating stainless steel was worth mentioning, since it was already mentioned earlier that it's pretty useless for a decent blade.
(Jun. 09, 2014 6:54 PM)King E.Emperor Wrote: [ -> ]I did it!I made 2 swords,because I like dual fighting!!!!Currntly cutting young trees to piecesXD
Post photos of your finished work!
I don't think kids will get the chance to make one without permission. (I deffinitely can't, my mom will kill me) but this is a great reference for a writer like me. These info might be useful for stories. Coincidentally, there's a character in my story who mentally controls steel, maybe I can make her forge a sword for the fighting scene. XD
This is a cool thread but no offense this is more of a tutorial for a steel saber and not really one on katanas. There are a few steps that are very neccesary for having a strong polished blade. One of the things you forgot was folding the hagane (steel) for the katana, the steel should end with around 5000 layers. Another thing that you forgot was the clay tempering, which gives the famous hamon that you see on well made katanas. Nevertheless this is a cool thread, perfect for beginner smithers who want to learn more.
(Jun. 09, 2014 10:11 PM)Bastion Wrote: [ -> ] (Jun. 09, 2014 6:18 PM)MasterSwordsman Wrote: [ -> ]that heat and rapid quench technique is hardening or what most people call heat treating, it is effective, but should be used on carbon or damascus steel, given stainless is too brittle as a sword.
My point is that you never mentioned hardening at all. Without it you'd be left with a long piece of soft annealed steel. I did not think not heat treating stainless steel was worth mentioning, since it was already mentioned earlier that it's pretty useless for a decent blade.
(Jun. 09, 2014 6:54 PM)King E.Emperor Wrote: [ -> ]I did it!I made 2 swords,because I like dual fighting!!!!Currntly cutting young trees to piecesXD
Post photos of your finished work!
how do I post files then, given I cant use youtube, and cant share from other sites
I've been working on my sword for a year hope this is good, just need a how to do this.
(Jun. 09, 2014 11:54 PM)MasterSwordsman Wrote: [ -> ]how do I post files then, given I cant use youtube, and cant share from other sites
I've been working on my sword for a year hope this is good, just need a how to do this.
Choose an image site, such as imgur, which requires no registration.
Upload the image there, and on the right side of the page after uploading, there will be an http address you can copy and paste into this thread, which will automatically make it viewable.
Put it in spoilers though.
(Jun. 09, 2014 11:10 PM)yt152430 Wrote: [ -> ]This is a cool thread but no offense this is more of a tutorial for a steel saber and not really one on katanas. There are a few steps that are very neccesary for having a strong polished blade. One of the things you forgot was folding the hagane (steel) for the katana, the steel should end with around 5000 layers. Another thing that you forgot was the clay tempering, which gives the famous hamon that you see on well made katanas. Nevertheless this is a cool thread, perfect for beginner smithers who want to learn more.
the folding is important, for katanas that is, the british longsword is what im showing, no way anyone will have time for folding, but, if you use damascus steel, you have to do folding regardless.
this was intended for those who are just starting, if you want to see my sword I have done all the folding and such (The one I mentioned there took me about 6 years making), tell me how to post videos without URL and I will happily post.
(Jun. 09, 2014 11:10 PM)yt152430 Wrote: [ -> ]This is a cool thread but no offense this is more of a tutorial for a steel saber and not really one on katanas. There are a few steps that are very neccesary for having a strong polished blade. One of the things you forgot was folding the hagane (steel) for the katana, the steel should end with around 5000 layers. Another thing that you forgot was the clay tempering, which gives the famous hamon that you see on well made katanas. Nevertheless this is a cool thread, perfect for beginner smithers who want to learn more.
the folding is important, for katanas that is, the british longsword is what im showing, no way anyone will have time for folding, but, if you use damascus steel, you have to do folding regardless.
this was intended for those who are just starting, if you want to see my sword I have done all the folding and such (The one I mentioned there took me about 6 years making), tell me how to post videos without URL and I will happily post.
EDIT: sorry for double post
(Jun. 09, 2014 11:10 PM)yt152430 Wrote: [ -> ]This is a cool thread but no offense this is more of a tutorial for a steel saber and not really one on katanas. There are a few steps that are very neccesary for having a strong polished blade. One of the things you forgot was folding the hagane (steel) for the katana, the steel should end with around 5000 layers. Another thing that you forgot was the clay tempering, which gives the famous hamon that you see on well made katanas. Nevertheless this is a cool thread, perfect for beginner smithers who want to learn more.
Just want to mention, the reason katans were folded that much was because the iron available in Japan was exceptionally awful. Seriously, some terrible raw iron with ridiculous amounts of carbon which needed to be bashed out by folding the metal.
They were folded less than 8 times typically. The 5000 layers is an absolutely ridiculous exaggeration borne from over-enthusiastic weaboo fanboys which has sadly lingered till current days. Katanas are nothing special performance wise, their only real redeeming characteristic being the amount of effort and time invested in them.
To clarify, I wasn't calling anyone here specifically a weaboo fanboy, only that they are the reason that this myth has lasted this long.
(Jun. 10, 2014 12:02 AM)Bastion Wrote: [ -> ] (Jun. 09, 2014 11:10 PM)yt152430 Wrote: [ -> ]This is a cool thread but no offense this is more of a tutorial for a steel saber and not really one on katanas. There are a few steps that are very neccesary for having a strong polished blade. One of the things you forgot was folding the hagane (steel) for the katana, the steel should end with around 5000 layers. Another thing that you forgot was the clay tempering, which gives the famous hamon that you see on well made katanas. Nevertheless this is a cool thread, perfect for beginner smithers who want to learn more.
Just want to mention, the reaosn katans were folded that much was because the iron available in Japan was exceptionally awful. Seriously, some terrible raw iron with ridiculous amounts of carbon which needed to be bashed out by folding the metal.
They were folded less than 8 times typically. The 5000 layers is an absolutely ridiculous exaggeration borne from over-enthusiastic weaboo fanboys which has sadly lingered till current days.
Damascus blades are still folded around 1000-2000 times, just for quality. but carbon steel does not need to be folded that much ESPECIALLY if you just buy prepared carbon steel, which is already folded and is ready to be turned into a sword.
(Jun. 10, 2014 12:10 AM)MasterSwordsman Wrote: [ -> ]Damascus blades are still folded around 1000-2000 times, just for quality. but carbon steel does not need to be folded that much ESPECIALLY if you just buy prepared carbon steel, which is already folded and is ready to be turned into a sword.
We were not discussing damascus, we were talking about carbon steel used for katanas. Regardless, amascus has thousands of
layers, not thousands of
folds. 11 folds gives 2048 layers.
Thank you for the correction, i wont lie i havent been keeping up on my smithing studies
Alright:
[Image: DA1Ykv4] do you see a sword? if yes, then it uploaded couldnt get the entire piece in the picture, and I was being quick.
EDIT: DARN IT DIDNT LOAD!!!!!
(Jun. 10, 2014 12:40 AM)MasterSwordsman Wrote: [ -> ]Alright:
[Image: DA1Ykv4] do you see a sword? if yes, then it uploaded couldnt get the entire piece in the picture, and I was being quick.
nope cant see it... you press insert image and enter it's URL, you right click and press copy image URL and paste it there when you do it
click here to see the sword hope this works
Edit: Yes it worked.
Couldnt get the entire picture in, must have been an error or the picture was to big, I'll try next time to post a better picture.
Very attractive!
The handle is especially impressive