Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 20:29:46 GMT
If you have access to the equipment, how feasible (or safe) would it be to make/weld on your own tang to a sword that has a short one or a rat tail?
Making one by grinding up the blade a few more inches (You shorten the sword but you enlarge the tang). Or by removing the rat-tail and welding on a solid tang.
I realize this is unfeasible for things like pot metal blades (Which I think should be a capital offense to make) and low quality stainless, but if something is a little higher on the scale, could this be done well?
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 20:55:12 GMT
I imagine someone very skilled in metallurgy could make something like that work. I think i have even seen a few examples of that on these boards before when someone was repairing a broken sword?
However, please please please....
Do not attempt to do this yourself, and then attempt to use the weapon, if you do not have any experience in BOTH swords and metallurgy.
This is one of those cases, where even if you get it as perfect as it can be, there will still be an increased risk that it will break at the weld.
If that's not enough of a reason....
Chances are, any sword that came equipped with a rat-tail tang, is probably cheap and more than likely going to be made out of the absolute lowest quality bargain steel they could find. You'll have no idea what its composition is (ie; carbon content - if any?), or what the rockwell hardness is (if its even hardened at all?).
Maybe on an higher end blade - if - done by a professional.... but that's a BIG maybe
But not on an SLO, or anything even remotely resembling an SLO.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 21:47:46 GMT
I thought you could just mix the powder in a glass of water and stir it?
Oh wait, making a tang. Misread the topic title there, nevermind.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 22:16:39 GMT
LOL, yeah bit like that, yeah if its a result of the end justifies the means this probably isnt one of them. To many things can go wrong and a heap of effort. I would just start saving your cash and waiting for a more reliable sword to bait your fancy ......... one always does after a while
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ecovolo
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"Ich bin ein Landsknecht."
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Post by ecovolo on May 16, 2009 2:58:16 GMT
I thought you could just mix the powder in a glass of water and stir it? Oh wait, making a tang. Misread the topic title there, nevermind. Damn, you beat me to it . Re: welding a tang-- I have a sword where the welded tang stood up to use. However, that use was stage combat, hence the blows were pulled/softened, versus out-and-out full-speed 'combat', per se. And even then, I retired it after a few years. If you were to use the weapon after the tang was added, what would you do with it? --Edward
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2009 6:41:13 GMT
If you were to use the weapon after the tang was added, what would you do with it? --Edward I should've been clearer with that. The idea was to make a sword safer to swing around, not necessarily make it "battle ready". I've had my own "helicopter of death" episodes.
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Post by brotherbanzai on May 16, 2009 16:38:00 GMT
The easiest route would be to grind away part of the blade to shorten the sword and increase the tang. Keep the blade cool so you don't ruin the heat treat by overheating the metal.
A new tang can be welded on but that's a bit more complicated. You can't just weld on any old piece of metal using a stick welder with mild steel filler rod or a mig welder with whatever happens to be on the spool. You would want to oxy/acetylene weld or even better tig weld the new tang, which should be made of the same steel as the rest of the blade. The filler for the weld should also be the same steel. Then you would have to re-heat treat the whole blade. A welded tang doesn't necessarily have to be bad (after all, forging a blade often involves welding the steel), but it usually is.
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