Why I don't do swords...

Want to annoy a blacksmith?  Ask them if they make swords.  In particular, ask them about folding swords (which will show your amazing ability to watch the movie Highlander.)  It is one of the most common questions I get.  Do you make swords?  How much would it cost?  THAT much?

Alright, I do have a desire someday to make swords.  However I do want to make them correctly.  That does mean blending steels and irons, folding and welding the metal to make the sword.  So what's the catch?  That type of work is extremely time consuming and difficult if you work without a power hammer or a striker.  So, I've made the decision that I won't make a real attempt at a sword until I have a power hammer or a volunteer that I can trust to work as a striker while I figure out how to make the sword.

Just as a bit of info: most swords available today are swords that were made by stock removal.  Someone has taken a hunk of steel and used a belt grinder to shape the sword.  This will produce a fine looking sword or dagger but it will not have the strength of a real weapon.  It is also not the correct medieval technique.  They are fine for "show" weapons and it is a cheap alternative.  I have my own stock removal sword that I use for SCA outfits.

So why all this discussion?  The piece that I am working on the clock involves taking a larger piece of metal and hammering it to be a thinner, longer shape.  In many ways, similar to part of the steps involved in folding/welding/drawing of a sword.  This really is a lot of hammering.  If I was doing blacksmithing everyday, it wouldn't be so bad.  But I got a case of Popeye arm today.  The muscles temporarily bulk up and tighten the skin.  This happened when I was making the cross piece for the clock.  Once again, it starts out as 2" x 1/2" and ends up being about 1" x 3/8".  The following pictures show the progress.

This first picture shows what I did on Saturday.


Starting to define the center a bit more by spreading out the metal.


Starting to form the other half (top of picture)


Getting close to being done.  This picture shows it approximate position on the frame.  Where the bulge is will be two vertical bars going down.  It splits the clock into the time keep side and the bell ringing side.  In clock terms it is the Going Train and the Striking Train.


Blacksmithing secret...  If you are going to do some filing on a piece, always anneal it prior to working on it.  That means heat it up to a low orange heat then let it cool slowly.


Finally, a comparison of the nearly done piece to the original stock metal.  Keep in mind the new piece is also not as thick.