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Upcoming Interviews and Beowulf

🕑 Added 2023-07-15 20:14:10 +0000 UTC

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Your swordsmith should read all this stuff, but the best resource I can give for him is https://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/ Now, chemistry isn't my thing, and Kjetil might want more details than that website gives, but it is a good start. In short, you want just the right amount of carbon, around 0.8-1% usually. But then you have to heat it up so that the crystal structure changes from bcc to fcc (or possibly fcc to bcc, I forget which direction it goes), which lets the carbon get into the spaces between the iron atoms. Then you have to cool it so rapidly that one of two things happens: you get carbon atoms 'stuck' as the iron crystalline lattice transitions back to its low temperature state, and form really hard Martensite, or you get molecules of iron carbide which also harden the steel. The result is too brittle for a good sword usually, so you then have to carefully heat it up but not too much, just enough to let some of the tension out of the blade, which is called 'tempering.' If you do this too much, you soften the steel (which is why it's important not to let hardened steel get too hot). So it's not just about the chemical composition, it's about the molecular configuration, which is controlled by heating, banging, and cooling. Also, if your source for iron isn't very pure, you want to fold the iron repeatedly to homogenize it. Finally, if you want to be really fancy, you can take multiple types of iron/steel and fold them together to create pretty patterns (pattern welding).

Ranveig

Ooh i think at least two of these will be great timing for me. Blake: do you know of any ridiculously nerdy resources on what specifically makes steel good or bad for swords? Like, the stuff your swordsmith didn't bother to read because it's too theoretical is probably perfect. (For my metallurgist boyfriend, i'm not going to understand any of it)