ay wrote:

My son will be graduating from Annapolis in June 2006.

I want to make him a sword. I have 4 ounces of nickle-iron meteorite
that I've collected over the years, and a couple of pounds of iron
from the WTC that I kept (I worked on the removal for 4 months)

Would it be possible to analyze the exact metal that I have, melt it
down and alloy it into a good steel for making a sword? I know I'll
have to find a good knife maker to make it.

Cut straight to the chase.

Have a bladesmith make the blade of whatever he can make best use of.
5160 gets a lot of reccomendations if I recall correctly. Something nice
in a nickel laced pattern welded steel if your tastes run that way.

Then have the fittings and furniture made from some of the salvaged WTC
material and trim it out with some of the meteorite bits or work the
meteorite iron into the fittings with the WTC material. Get some nice
engraving done (not done by anybody using a pantograph fercryinoutloud,
real engraving) The sword will need a sheath and fittings appropriate to
it's style and intended usage. More opportunity to use the stock in
hand.

The bladesmith may be able to use some of the steel in a pattern welded
blade as a lower carbon content component (Layers of higher and lower
carbon steels are welded together to form pattern welded steel billets).

No personal experience in the smelting or refining of steel alloys, but
I'll go out on a limb and say that the way I suggest above will be MUCH
less expensive than to do as you propose, melting and alloying.

However you go with this, best to get on it quick as the lead times for
work like this can be longish.

Oh yeah! Post pictures of the end results in the dropbox at
www.metalworking.com. Please!

Cheers
Trevor Jones

Hey Proud Dad,

Wow! I have NO IDEA, but what a wonderful thought.

If what you want isn't possible, then maybe just the handle or the
"guard thingy" could be worked into the handle on a standard blade.
Wow!! What a great idea for a graduation presentation!!

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.

ps...congratulations to your son too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

I haveOn Fri, 04 Feb 2005 20:42:08 -0800,
ay wrote:

My son will be graduating from Annapolis in June 2006.

I want to make him a sword. I have 4 ounces of nickle-iron meteorite
that I've collected over the years, and a couple of pounds of iron
from the WTC that I kept (I worked on the removal for 4 months)

Would it be possible to analyze the exact metal that I have, melt it
down and alloy it into a good steel for making a sword? I know I'll
have to find a good knife maker to make it.

I like the meterorite idea. But in the words of James Black who smelted a
bit of meterorite in Jim Bowies knife, "For better or for worse, she
contains a bit of Heaven, or perhaps a bit of Hell.

Bob Swinney
"Brian Lawson" wrote in message
news

Hey Proud Dad,

Wow! I have NO IDEA, but what a wonderful thought.

If what you want isn't possible, then maybe just the handle or the
"guard thingy" could be worked into the handle on a standard blade.
Wow!! What a great idea for a graduation presentation!!

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.

ps...congratulations to your son too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

I haveOn Fri, 04 Feb 2005 20:42:08 -0800,
ay wrote:

My son will be graduating from Annapolis in June 2006.

I want to make him a sword. I have 4 ounces of nickle-iron meteorite
that I've collected over the years, and a couple of pounds of iron
from the WTC that I kept (I worked on the removal for 4 months)

Would it be possible to analyze the exact metal that I have, melt it
down and alloy it into a good steel for making a sword? I know I'll
have to find a good knife maker to make it.

ay wrote:

My son will be graduating from Annapolis in June 2006.

I want to make him a sword. I have 4 ounces of nickle-iron meteorite
that I've collected over the years, and a couple of pounds of iron
from the WTC that I kept (I worked on the removal for 4 months)

Would it be possible to analyze the exact metal that I have, melt it
down and alloy it into a good steel for making a sword? I know I'll
have to find a good knife maker to make it.

What they said, plus: alt.crafts.blacksmithing; there are some
_serious_ sword makers there. You may be able to speed things up if
someone has a blade ready to go that just needs fittings and a scabbard.

FYI, what folks were referring to is that the WTC steel and the
meteorite will be very low-carbon steel, which just ain't good blade
material, unless you don't mind him having a pretend sword.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

wrote:
:
: My son will be graduating from Annapolis in June 2006.
:
: I want to make him a sword. I have 4 ounces of nickle-iron meteorite
: that I've collected over the years, and a couple of pounds of iron
: from the WTC that I kept (I worked on the removal for 4 months)
:
: Would it be possible to analyze the exact metal that I have, melt it
: down and alloy it into a good steel for making a sword? I know I'll
: have to find a good knife maker to make it.
:
:What they said, plus: alt.crafts.blacksmithing; there are some
:_serious_ sword makers there. You may be able to speed things up if
:someone has a blade ready to go that just needs fittings and a scabbard.
:
:FYI, what folks were referring to is that the WTC steel and the
:meteorite will be very low-carbon steel, which just ain't good blade
:material, unless you don't mind him having a pretend sword.

I figured that the WTC steel would be bad by itself, but I figured
it's basically Iron. Couldn't enough carbon, nickle, moly, etc, be
added to it to make it into a reasonable blade material?



Absolutely. It can be done.

How much money do you have?

John Martin

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 12:42:32 -0800, Tim Wescott
wrote:

wrote:

My son will be graduating from Annapolis in June 2006.

I want to make him a sword. I have 4 ounces of nickle-iron meteorite
that I've collected over the years, and a couple of pounds of iron
from the WTC that I kept (I worked on the removal for 4 months)

Would it be possible to analyze the exact metal that I have, melt it
down and alloy it into a good steel for making a sword? I know I'll
have to find a good knife maker to make it.

What they said, plus: alt.crafts.blacksmithing; there are some
_serious_ sword makers there. You may be able to speed things up if
someone has a blade ready to go that just needs fittings and a scabbard.

FYI, what folks were referring to is that the WTC steel and the
meteorite will be very low-carbon steel, which just ain't good blade
material, unless you don't mind him having a pretend sword.

The WTC stuff is almost certianly mild steel. However meteorites are
nickel-iron composition that makes excellent blades.

However the real place to ask is over in blacksmithing or knifemaking.
I'd think it would be possible to laminate the material you have with
conventional blade steels to make a good-performing blade. (Although
those swords are entirely ceremonial and usually not sharpened.)

--RC

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit;
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

-- Suzie B

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 13:33:48 -0800, ay
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 12:42:32 -0800, Tim Wescott
wrote:

wrote:
:
: My son will be graduating from Annapolis in June 2006.
:
: I want to make him a sword. I have 4 ounces of nickle-iron meteorite
: that I've collected over the years, and a couple of pounds of iron
: from the WTC that I kept (I worked on the removal for 4 months)
:
: Would it be possible to analyze the exact metal that I have, melt it
: down and alloy it into a good steel for making a sword? I know I'll
: have to find a good knife maker to make it.
:
:What they said, plus: alt.crafts.blacksmithing; there are some
:_serious_ sword makers there. You may be able to speed things up if
:someone has a blade ready to go that just needs fittings and a scabbard.
:
:FYI, what folks were referring to is that the WTC steel and the
:meteorite will be very low-carbon steel, which just ain't good blade
:material, unless you don't mind him having a pretend sword.

I figured that the WTC steel would be bad by itself, but I figured
it's basically Iron. Couldn't enough carbon, nickle, moly, etc, be
added to it to make it into a reasonable blade material?

I would think so. However there's one guy who could give you a much
better read on the situation. Jim Hrisoulas, or 'dr jim', as he's
known on the net, is one of the leading swordsmiths working in this
country today. He's also a PhD metallurgist. The web page for his
business, Salamander Armoury is at
http://www.atar.com/index.php?&MMN_position=1:1

--RC

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit;
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

-- Suzie B