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From: Sheldon / Randal <saoirse@telusplanet.net
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 15:54:07 -0700
Subject: Re: Claymores

I was discussing Claymores and similar swords with Donn Fogg ,with regards
to techniques and steel choices.
He mentioned that it might be fun to post my response on the list.
This info is my opinion ,and the info pertains to my techniques
only.

 
 Hi Don
 ,the claymores..
 
         I've been using both 1060 and 5160 for the claymores and big two
 handed swords.The blade lenghth of these run from 50 inches to a full 7
 feet.(for the big german swords). The tangs generally are at 12 inches or
 so.
 
         I'm finding the 1060 is the better choice,for a number of
 reasons. The 1060 doesn't seem to want to "noodle" as bad at
 critical,which makes it a whole lot easier to get a straight blade into
 the quench.  I'm quenching in a diesal-motor-oil mix.
 
         The 1060 also seems to harden more consistantly in the oil,I've
 had the occasional problem with soft spots in the blade of the 5160
 versions.That being said,I find the overall toughness of 5160 to be
 slightly better than the 1060,so they roughly balance out in the end.
 
         I first forge a blade-blank,pretty much the same process the
 japanese form the Sunobe.Taper the blank and finish-forge the tang
 first,all at a fairly high heat.(high-reds to orange).
 
         Thats the easy part
 
         When i forge the bevels the heat has to drop down to the reds,for
 the simple fact that gravity is really starting to cause problems on the
 long blades.The "aus-forging" temps keep the droop minimised just enough
 that turning the blade over every few hammer strokes keep it fairly-well
 under control.
 
         I forge in two seperate runs; a rough shaping the entire
 length,then I go back and finish forge with water on the anvil.
 I'm forging the edge down to about an eightth of an inch on the 1060,and
 sometimes a little thinner,almost a sixteenth, on the 5160.
 
         I go through a great deal of trouble to normalize these big
 ones.I have gotten into the habit of normalizing twice followed by
 annealing.As long as I do this the warpage on the 1060 is just about
 non-existant,and the 5160 warpage is minimal.
 Never had an edge-crack with this thermal set-up either.But I have had
 edges crack and full blade breakage on blades that were only
 annealed,without the twin normalization cycles,or normalized only,which
 is a common practice amoung the reproduction sword guys.
 
         I'm using a big cutler's hammer for the finish forging,which has
 a fairly large face,about 2.5 square,that is dead-flat with a very small
 radius on the edges,and does much the same thing as a flatter;it allows
 me to forge a very flat surface on the bevels,and in conjunction with the
 water on the anvil,it minimises the grinding required later.
 The hammer is 6#.
 
         Rough grind for heat-treat is being done with draw-filing.I'm
 using a very thin coat of potters clay over the entire blade which makes
 the after-quench clean up very fast-a 6 inch bronze-wire brush on the
 angle grinder,and it takes about 2 min.
 
         I temper the big blades in mineral oil.It's a horizontal tank
 with a gas-stove burner underneath and an oven controll.I can temper from
 200 to 650f,and usally temper the 1060 at 400,the 5160 at 450.
 I found the 5160 getting brittle above 475,and suspect the chrome content
 has something to do with the problem.
         I use a candy thermometer in the oil,its dead-accurate and I can
 check different locations in the oil as it's coming up to temp.
 
         I used sand in a tempering box for a long time,and it works
 great,it's just a lot of work as the sand needs to be sifted alot as it's
 warming-up.The oil is great,and is probably the next-best thing to
 salt,as far as the monster blades are concerned anyway.
 
         After the tempering,I go over the blade with the draw-filing
 again,just a quick one to be sure the flats are flat and no pits are
 gonna show up later.
 
         For the reproduction blades,i finsh them with DMT diamond stones-
 220,320,and 600.The 600g finish from the stones is just about dead-on for
 reproducing the finish found on fancy ancient blades which were finished
 with limestone and agate in europe.For a custom blade or a really fancy
 piece I use 600,800,and 1200 grit paper after the 600 diamond.
 
         I've never used a belt-grinder much for these big blades,the size
 makes it nearly impossible to hold or move the blade in any steady
 fashion.
 I have been playing with a 6X48 inch grinder though that may just
 work-out used in the flat horizontal position.
 I've found that once you get past 4 feet,the hand-powered stuff is just
 as quick,albiet requireing lots more sweat.
 
         It's my opinion that for a "live sword" of this size,minimal tang
 width at the ricasso end has to be at least .75 inch,tapering to no less
 than .5 inch at the pommel.
         Blade thickness at the ricasso is 5/16 to 3/8 depending on the
 over-all length of the sword.The usuall stock I start with is 5/16 by 2.
         The tangs are hardened and tempered as well,I found full-soft
 ones bending and breaking off the handles.The power of a typical claymore
 is down-right terrifying,as is the strain on the weapon itself.Definately
 not just a big knife!
 

 Randal

I would like to say that when I referred to "sword reproduction guys",i
was NOT referring to custom makers of any sort;but the replica companies
that are importing stuff from over seas and some of the smaller companies
that do 300 dollar knock-offs.
Some of the worlds best sword-smiths are right-here on the list,They are 
the guys to talk to about the 'big ones".

Randal
Alberta

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