Can anyone here heat treat a large blade ?

[Peter Remling]

I have a large sword blade, Albion Moat Sale 50" overall 38 1/2" blade.
I have a smaller sword blade that I'd like to have treated so if you can treat them, you can keep the larger.

I would pay s&h both ways, USA only due to Postal costs elsewhere.

[Eric C]

How large is the smaller blade? I've nearly got my gas forge ready and I will be able to HT larger blades with it.

[Peter Remling]

R.D. going to take a stab at them. I still have two more for the future though.

[Eric C]

From his description, RD may have the better set-up for it now that I think about it.

Once I completely enclose the smithy though, I'm going to build a sword-size brick forge.

[R.D.Metcalf]

Pete, I would personally deem Eric to be the better man for the job, I might do a heat treat once every 2-3 months Eric probably does them every other day. If the blades were mine I would go with the more experienced man. I'll give you 110% but Erics experience makes his 110% better than mine.

[Peter Remling]

I'll stick with R.D. for this go around, after all I still have the other 2 blades both of which are smaller and will fit with Eric's available equipment.

Eric, I need the smallest in it's current untreated state for a pivotal prop in a video I hope to get filmed in the next two monthes. After that we can try to get these last two heat treated if you're game at the time.

[Eric C]

RD, Don't sell yourself short on this. Know-how goes a long way, but know-how without the proper equipment is no good. I'm still growing in both knowledge and equipment.

I've got a big sword project coming up. It's one that was given to me by a fellow forumite. I'll probably have it professionally heat treated. It's a massive sword.

Pete, keep me informed. We'll see what comes about when the time comes.

[mcapanelli]

It's funny you should pst this now Pete. In the process of looking for someone to regrind me Albion without mucking up the heat treat I stumbled on a forge right here in Whitestone that does heat treatments. If you need it PM me and I'll give you the number.

[Faolan]

On the subject of heat-treating, I have a knife that was given to me many years ago, It is a reproduction of a Rev War rifleman's knife. It has all the markings of having been hand-forged but I don't think it was tempered properly as it does not hold an edge.

The major road-block to tempering at this point is that it is mounted in a section of elk antler, pinned with a brass pin and then the maker poured lead down the hole on either side of the tang.

Is there any way possible to temper this in it's current build?

Faolan

[Peter Remling]

Possibly, you'd need an expert in differential heat treating. Generally differential heat treating is used after the entire blade has been treated and they use the differential heat treating to actually soften aspects of the blade to give the overall blade some flexibility. There is no real reason why it can't be done in reverse to heat treat the edge of the blade unless the quenching aspect poses the problem.

Not knowledgeable enough to give you any more of a definative answer, but it's worth investigating.

[Rhys ap Ieuan]

If differential heat treatment doesn't work, you might still be able to disassemble it. A soldering iron and solder wick should suck up the lead, hopefully letting you drift out the brass pin. If the antler isn't also glued on, it might just come off at that point.

How easily does heat damage elk antler?

[Greg]

Antler and horn are essentially by-products of hair. They burn easily, and smell terrible.

[Eledhwen]

Gods yes they stink with a mighty pong. O_O

Eledhwen

[Odigan]

Still looking to get this done?
I can take care of that Albion moat blade, if you don't mind sending it back where it came from.

[mcapanelli]

For all interested, I'll be in contact with my local forge some time this week. We played phone tag over the holiday weekend. Hopefully I can get pricing and give out contact info for anyone needing a heat treatment on a blade. Stay tuned!!