Ancient hardening processes for bronze are interesting. The initial annealing step is the opposite of steel - instead of very slowly bringing the metal down from a near-melting heat, you quench it. This would make steel hard and brittle, but it anneals bronze. Then you carefully pack the metal with a hammer to reduce its physical size and force the metal into an optimal grain, very much like the way a metal tool’s edge gets work hardened, only with more planning and control.
Or at least that’s what the guys who do it tell me… I have still not assembled my own bronze forge, although I built the shop for it and have all the equipment required… There’s always something else that has to be done right now it seems…
I want one of those, but will have to settle for using cutting dust from a meteorite, mixing it with resin, and packing it into a mold; I have plans for a run of dice from that method. An unclassified stone meteorite might do, if you have access to lapidary equipment; it would be much less expensive. I have to look up that particular iron meteorite (Kharga).
Enso: Paging Dr. Jones, Dr. Henry Jones Jr. to the white courtesy phone, please…
You send me a big enough iron/nickel meteorite, and I’ll forge one out for you (provided that there’s enough meteorite to make two, one for me to keep as well). I’ve worked all sorts of materials into damascus (shovels, nails, cable, wagon wheel iron, etc…), but never meteorite because of the prohibitive cost.
Neat! I have a friend who makes swords and knives. Pretty decent stuff for a fair value. My biggest criticism is that he doesn’t always polish out all the imperfections, but that is why his prices are cheaper, when he doesn’t add the several hours needed to buff every little thing out. But when it comes to his swords they are very well balanced, light, and made to cut real things.
Anyway, I have been meaning to take pics of my dagger. I need to polish the hilt first, though. I will post it soon if I can.
Long story, which doesn’t really need to be shared here, but I’ll just say that it was made as a remembrance gift with a lot of the materials that went into it having emotional significance for my Dad. Thus the name of the file. It was a gift for Dad (who is still around, and seems to like it).
