Heya folks...
Got a rather oddball question kicking around in my head.

Some time ago, the landlady bought a short sword. I know exactly
*NOTHING* of who she got it from, or any details about it beyond the
fact that it has some barely legible etching/engraving/something on it
that indicates it was intended to be a reproduction of Bilbo/Frodo
Baggins' sword "Sting" from Lord of the Rings. I suspect it's probably a
product of the Franklin Mint or similar organization. Maybe the same
outfits that put out things like Excalibur, the sword Rutger Hauer
carried in Ladyhawke, Conan's sword, and similar
fantasy/fanstasy-inspired display pieces.

Their house burned to the ground a couple years ago, and this piece was
one of the few recognizable bits of salvage, and is now in my posession.
The heat was intense enough, and/or the position was right so that it
"sagged" a bit sometime during the fire, putting a bit of a bend (not
huge, but definitely noticable) across the flat of the blade about 3
inches in front of the hilt, taking the point out of alignment with the
pommel - probably 2-3 inches off the plane that it's supposed to be on.

Now, I *KNOW* that this thing is never again (without more effort than
it could possibly be worth) going to be the practically chrome-plated,
shiny wall-hanger that it once was, but that's not a big deal.

Once I ground an actual edge onto it (sparks say it's SOME kind of
steel, but I don't have the know-how to read them and properly decide
just what kind), I found that I like it *A LOT* for the same uses you'd
put a machete to. It's got a nice balance, decent heft without being too
heavy, etc. But the bend in the blade makes it awkward to work with, to
say nothing of making it rather difficult to accurate place repeated
blows such as needed when trying to hack down a small sapling or chop a
notch in the edge of a board.

I've tried relatively gentle pressure (I'm afraid of snapping it off -
like I said, I've discovered I like it quite a bit) to straighten it,
but no go - It's "springy", and returns to the bent shape as soon as the
pressure is released.

I assume the only way I'm going to straighten this blade without
snapping it off is going to involve some fairly serious heat, and
possibly a hammer, then a re-temper, no?

That being the case, what would you folks recommend? I'm not
particularly worried about cosmetics - The blade is fairly severely
flame-marked, somewhat scaled, and rather discolored - It seems about
half a miracle to me that the wooden hilt is mostly intact - It cracked
lengthwise, but aside from a dime-sized place near the quillons (such as
they are...) that scorched, it's otherwise intact, including at least
part of the paint. If/when I can get the bend out of it, it's going to
see use as a machete.

So, knowing what you now know (which is everything *I* know) about this
blade, how would you suggest going about the task of straightening and
retempering it? Like I said, the cosmetics are irrelevant - I don't care
if the blade comes out 27 shades of black, chrome-shiney, or anything in
between, as long as it comes out intact, straight, and with a decent
enough temper on it that I'm not going to shatter it the first time I
catch a rock or a fencepost, and it'll hold a reasonably decent edge.

All ideas welcome...

--
Don Bruder - - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004.
Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the
subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address.
See http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/main/contact.html for full details.

"Don Bruder" wrote: (clip) I assume the only way I'm going to straighten
this blade without snapping it off is going to involve some fairly serious
heat, and possibly a hammer, then a re-temper, no?(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's been through a house fire, and still holds an edge and is springy. It
obviously got hot enough to sag, and yet it still has good properties. As
unlikely as that seems, it suggests to me that the blade must be made of
air-hardening steel, because there is no way it could have received any sort
of heat treatment in the aftermath of a fire. If that is true, then it is
possible that you could straighten it by reheating it while it is clamped to
something straight, and then just letting it cool.

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 02:14:32 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
wrote:


"Don Bruder" wrote: (clip) I assume the only way I'm going to straighten
this blade without snapping it off is going to involve some fairly serious
heat, and possibly a hammer, then a re-temper, no?(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's been through a house fire, and still holds an edge and is springy. It
obviously got hot enough to sag, and yet it still has good properties. As
unlikely as that seems, it suggests to me that the blade must be made of
air-hardening steel, because there is no way it could have received any sort
of heat treatment in the aftermath of a fire. If that is true, then it is
possible that you could straighten it by reheating it while it is clamped to
something straight, and then just letting it cool.


Stick a rosebud on your torch and heat it a dull red in the bent area,
and gently hammer if flat over an anvil or railroad track. Then heat
the entire blade until it turns a straw color and let it air cool.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner