How a Sword is Made
This is a quick overview of the steps normally taken to make a traditional sword. There are variations on this process but this gives you a nice overview of the whole thing and how to do it. This is the most commom way swords are made. It takes six distinct steps:
- Forging A bar of the desired metal or combination of metals is heated in a forge and then it is hammered into shape. This hammering process can take a long time. This is called drawing out the sword. The sword is worked on in sections (usually around 6 inches in length) and repeatedly hammered and heated until the sword comes into the desired shape.This process is repeated and the sword is often heated then allowed to cool without hammering. This is required by the metal to keep the desired properties of strength and flexibility.
- Annealing When the final shape is complete the total sword is heated and then allowed to cool very slowly. Often it is wrapped in an insulating material to slow down this cooling. It can take as long as 24 hours and this process is called Annealing and this makes the sword soft and easy to grind.
- Grinding Now the blacksmith uses a grinder to work out the edge and point of the sword. This would also be when any engraving is added. This is not a completed sword yet. It is still much too soft.
- Hardening Now the sword is heated to a very high temperature and then placed into a quenching tank. This quenching allows it to cool quickly and evenly which will harden the metal.
- Tempering Again the blade is heated and quenched. But now the heating is at a much lower tem perature than was used at the hardening. This heating/quenching cycle may be repeated several times. This tempering allows the blade to be strong but not brittle. It will have a certain amount of flexibility yet still retain its sharp edge.
- Completion The sword blade itself is now complete. Now the additional parts will be added such as the pommel the guard and the hilt.
Blacksmithing
- Blacksmithing Home Page
- Introduction to the Art and the home made forge
- Part 2 - some simple blacksmithing skills
- Making A Forge
- How to make a cheap and easy forge
- How to Make a Sword - an overview of the process
- Books, tools and more
- Blacksmithing Tips
- Safety Tips and Guidelines
- A look at the Anvil
- Blacksmithing Pics
- Blacksmithing Videos
- Words and definitions
- Blacksmith shops in castles
- Blacksmithing Equipment
- Youtube blacksmithing videos here on my website
- The Blacksmith Poem
- Knifemaking and Knifesmithing
Blacksmithing Course: Lessons
- Introduction to the Anvil
- The Forge
- A quick look at forging
- Drawing out metal
- Twisting metal
- Using a Hardie tool to bend
- The Eight Basic Hammering Technniques of a blacksmith
- A look at Hardie Tools
Projects
LINKS & MORE
Lots of Blacksmithing Videos on my youtube channel
My Other Websites
The Telescope Nerd
Castlefiction.com
Epic-Fantasy.com
The Fantasy Blog
The Fantasy Guide
Medieval Castles
Medieval Swords
Medieval Weapons
The Knight Medieval
willkalif.com
make-video-games.com HobbyNerd.com
All Materials, unless
otherwise stated are
Copyright©2000-2012
Kalif Publishing and
StormtheCastle.com
For more information or
for customer support
check out
copyright and info page
Hi, Thanks for visiting
my website.
My name is Will.
If you have any questions
or want to contribute
to this website:
---------
