Making real Medieval swords is a lost art.
Crafting a real medieval sword takes years of practice, dedication and education in blacksmithy. The process of making a sword in the same manner smiths did in the middle ages is complex. You will need a trained eye and hand to understand the properties of metal and sway them to your will. A sword has always had the same six steps from start to finish and as a blacksmith you must perfect each one to create a perfect medieval sword.
Instructions
1. Forge 6 inch bars of metal together by heating each bar one at a time, adding it to a second heated piece and hammering them together over an anvil. Alternatively, one could melt the metal into liquid form and pour it into a sword shaped mold. After allowing it to cool, you would remove it from the mold to begin the hammering process. The process of adding molten bars or heating and hammering the sword into shape must be repeated several times.
2. Anneal the sword by heating it over the forge until the metal heats to a red color. Remove the sword from the forge and while it is still red hot, fold it into several layers of wool sheeting. Annealing the sword and allowing it to cool slowly helps give the metal some flexibility. Allow the sword to cool for 24 hours.
3. Grind the sword into shape using the stone wheel grinder. Grind the point and cutting edges of the sword. If you would like engravings on your sword, that should also be done at this time.
4. Heat the sword in the forge again until it reaches the highest temperature possible before melting occurs. Quickly dip the hot sword into a quenching tank full of cool water. This process hardens the sword and makes it very brittle.
5. Temper the blade by heating the sword to a lower temperature and then quenching it in the quenching tank. The temperature should reach a point where the metal sizzles when placed in water but does not turn red. Repeat this several times. This will make the sword both strong and flexible.
6. Add the pommel guard and hilt by soldering them to the blade. Finish the sword with a quick sharpening using a sharpening stone.
Tags: sword into, allowing cool, into shape, medieval sword, quenching tank, several times, sword into shape