casting of sword blades in the 19th century

Lee · 27th March 2022, 04:46 PM

I doubt casting would have been viable for blades back then. One would have to get the molten steel to a pretty high temperature in order to hold the carbon down in an acceptable range and I imagine it would be difficult to adequately decarburize if the casting started as brittle cast iron, as this is mostly a surface phenomenon and a brittle blade core is extremely undesirable. Hopefully some knowledgeable smiths will reply in this thread.

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27th March 2022, 04:46 PM	#2
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 970	I doubt casting would have been viable for blades back then. One would have to get the molten steel to a pretty high temperature in order to hold the carbon down in an acceptable range and I imagine it would be difficult to adequately decarburize if the casting started as brittle cast iron, as this is mostly a surface phenomenon and a brittle blade core is extremely undesirable. Hopefully some knowledgeable smiths will reply in this thread.