Tanto WIP

The place to talk about knives, swords, edged weapons, sticks and impact weapons, restraints, and and the techniques and tools for preparedness and survival without firearms.
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HTRN
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by HTRN »

Yes for iron.

Steel is alot harder - modern steel is done in arc furnaces, using oxygen lances to burn out the extra carbon. It's not something you can do at home, at least not to the same quality that modern, carbon arc furnaces equipped with inert atmosheres and oxygen lances can produce.

Honestly? Find a local machine shop. Ask 'em if they can tack on what you want the next time you order. I would suggest you bring something to drink as a... uhm, "courtesy" when you pay them a visit. :mrgreen:
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Aglifter
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by Aglifter »

That's probably not a bad idea - if the nearby town is a furniture center, as you said - there must be a machinist to support them
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Highspeed
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by Highspeed »

blackeagle603 wrote:charcoal, ore, flux... Voila! Smelter.
That's a video I have seen before and I actually swapped a couple of emails with the creator, a bladesmith with amazing talent called Jesus Hernandez.

He's a doctor in the US, but Spanish by birth, so I asked him about bladesmithing forums and suppliers in Spain. He wasn't able to be much help but is a very friendly and very modest guy.

I have thought about making my own steel, and in fact when I designed my forge I specified it to be quite tall so that it could be used for ' oroshigane' which is adding carbon to steel in a kind of smelting 'lite' process the japs use to adjust the properties of the raw tamagahane. I haven't actually tried that yet because I only just started making my own charcoal - the process will use bucketloads of the stuff and it wouldn't be economic to use the store bought variety.

Tamagahane is the holy grail of knifemaking steels for Japanese style blade construction, and I have seen reports of it selling for $2k a pound :shock: ( but then anything to do with Jap blades comes at an eye watering price )
Of course it isn't as good as modern steels, not even close, but we are talking aesthetic form over function and I have to say the grain pattern it shows is beautiful and unique.

Smelting is definitely an option for the future, but not right now.
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HTRN
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by HTRN »

Have you considered cable damascus as an interim measure? Steel cable is common as dirt in most first world nations.
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat

Describing what HTRN does as "antics" is like describing the wreck of the Titanic as "a minor boating incident" ~ First Shirt
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Highspeed
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by Highspeed »

Weetabix wrote:Aglifter beat me to the conversion.

Have you considered using old circular saw blades? My brother in law made me a knife out of a circular saw blade years ago, and it's a dandy.
I'm a high carbon steel scrap seeking missile :) when it comes to that kind of stuff, but it's difficult right now due to not having too many contacts. Another option would be forge welding billets of worn out chainsaw blades ( everyone here has a chainsaw, most home heating is log burners ), but that looks to be hellish difficult. I can forge weld damascus OK, but a chain is a whole new ballgame...

But yeah, scrap saw blades are high on my scrounging list, that and wire rope.
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Highspeed
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by Highspeed »

HTRN wrote:Have you considered cable damascus as an interim measure? Steel cable is common as dirt in most first world nations.
Yup, I have some thin stuff I'm planning to experiment with. Two problems though, it's galvanised and has a plastic core. If I can get the core out without it all unravelling into a complete mess then I'm hoping to burn the galv off by heating ( while standing well away from the fumes ;) )

I did snip a bit off and quench test it - hardens in water but not oil, so I'm guessing it's quite low carbon. That's OK though, I can forge weld some O-1 to it for a cutting edge.

I left about 30 bloody feet of very suitable cable back in the UK, came off the winch I had on the front of my Land Rover Defender :(

You should see me when we are driving around, my head is out the window looking for any scrap metal that might be high carbon material. Damn good job that Ruth does all the driving or we would end up in a ditch every 300 yards :D
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Aglifter
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by Aglifter »

Is there any kind of timber industry in Spain? They tend to generate quite a bit of used steel cable.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes, & our sacred Honor

A gentleman unarmed is undressed.

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HTRN
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by HTRN »

The problem he's going to run into is that a lot of steel cable these days is either galvo or stainless.
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat

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Aglifter
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by Aglifter »

True - we used stainless on the old ranch - cost quite a bit.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes, & our sacred Honor

A gentleman unarmed is undressed.

Collects of 1903/08 Colt Pocket Auto
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Aglifter
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Re: Tanto WIP

Post by Aglifter »

What about old discs off plows, or a timber flail - if you can find such a thing
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes, & our sacred Honor

A gentleman unarmed is undressed.

Collects of 1903/08 Colt Pocket Auto
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