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Post by ebsw0820e on Sept 22, 2009 10:07:03 GMT
I have seen the bronze crafting site of neil burridge, international orders won't work for me however. And deepeeka is out of the question. And I've googled this for hours. Is there really not any U.S. based maker of bronze swords?
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Sept 22, 2009 11:51:05 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2009 12:51:19 GMT
If the sword is intended for use... might the alloys used in Jeffrey's lost wax casting be different to that used in swords?
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Post by brotherbanzai on Sept 23, 2009 0:59:36 GMT
Thanks for the plug Brendan Yes, the modern bronze alloy is different from what was used to make swords. Bronze swords where cast in stone molds but can be cast nowadays in sand molds. I imagine they could also be cast in ceramic shell molds though I've never tried that. You would want to use "old world bronze" which is mainly copper and tin for a usable sword. Then you have to compress the edges to give them a bit of hardness. It's not my usual alloy but I could cast in it. But I couldn't likely make a bronze sword within the forums general price range.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2009 2:25:01 GMT
I'm very curious as to how well bronze swords actually performed. For example, how sharp they were and how much punishment they could take.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 15:34:09 GMT
Hank Reinhardt had an excellent section in his "Book of Swords" on bronze swords, John. It explained sharpness and usage on them. Appearantly, the early bronze swords were mostly used for thrusting, like a rapier, while later bronze swords were cast wide so they could be used for cutting.
As for punishment, they couldn't withstand a whole lot of abuse and tended to break near the hand or at the tang. Some of this was rectified by creating a tang almost as wide as the blade and sandwiching it between two pieces of medium that would form the grip. If I recall, this improved the strength of the blade and allowed for a little more abuse.
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Post by brotherbanzai on Sept 25, 2009 16:33:24 GMT
I don't recall where I read it but was reading where a fellow was talking about one of those tv documentary type things where they examine various interesting things and they were comparing bronze swords to iron swords. Apparently, the later bronze swords were pretty close to the early iron swords in how well they performed.
I look around and see if I can find where I read that.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 16:43:16 GMT
I don't recall where I read it but was reading where a fellow was talking about one of those tv documentary type things where they examine various interesting things and they were comparing bronze swords to iron swords. Apparently, the later bronze swords were pretty close to the early iron swords in how well they performed. I look around and see if I can find where I read that. I don't remember seeing the documentery, but that was also mentioned in Mr. Reinhardt's book. Part of the reason they were used into the iron age, though, was due to the fact that the knowledge of working Iron hadn't spread as quickly, and they weren't as expensive to make as the Iron weapons, either. But they did, from my understanding, perform as well as the earlier iron weapons (which took alot of their cues for production from their bronze counterparts, I believe).
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 21:29:22 GMT
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Post by brotherbanzai on Sept 26, 2009 18:40:50 GMT
I think that was it. Thanks kriegschwert
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2009 21:17:00 GMT
There's some good information in that link. +1
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2009 0:21:55 GMT
Thanks. Be sure to check out all the articles at the top of the home page, as well: www.bronze-age-craft.com/. Oustanding resource for us "bronzeheads".
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Post by YlliwCir on Sept 27, 2009 5:53:54 GMT
Thanks, Krieg, I remember seeing that before, probably one of your posts. That URNFIELD is a real beauty.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2009 17:55:10 GMT
Hi Having handled Swords made by Neil Burridge i would highly recommend buying one, he uses a Bronze with Cornish tin in the alloy which is a very hard good quality tin, his finished swords with sharpened hardened edges and polished blades are simply beautiful and quite capable of cutting. I hope to purchase a finished sword from him one day.
mudguts
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2009 18:51:16 GMT
Thanks, Krieg, I remember seeing that before, probably one of your posts. That URNFIELD is a real beauty. I like the Urnfield, the Ewart Park, and the Mycenaean Type G. Heck, I like 'em all, but those are my favorites. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2009 21:36:29 GMT
I don't recall where I read it but was reading where a fellow was talking about one of those tv documentary type things where they examine various interesting things and they were comparing bronze swords to iron swords. Apparently, the later bronze swords were pretty close to the early iron swords in how well they performed. I look around and see if I can find where I read that. I don't remember seeing the documentery, but that was also mentioned in Mr. Reinhardt's book. Part of the reason they were used into the iron age, though, was due to the fact that the knowledge of working Iron hadn't spread as quickly, and they weren't as expensive to make as the Iron weapons, either. But they did, from my understanding, perform as well as the earlier iron weapons (which took alot of their cues for production from their bronze counterparts, I believe). Guys at myarmouury say that iron swords were easier for mass manufacture and because of that become popular. They were cheaper to produce and you could have a bigger army equipped with swords. They didn't perform much better, if at all, than good bronze swords.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2009 22:22:07 GMT
In a couple of books on ancient warfare, and one discussing the Greek sack of Troy from a historical perspective, it is mentioned that there may have been a shortage of tin at one period, hastening the switch to iron out of necessity.
Like several others here, I have heard and read that bronze weapons performed about equally with similar quality iron weapons. Swords in the earlier period were tapered and made for thrusting, and were not one piece from blade to hilt, like later swords. This resulted in them more easily breaking.
"Because the blade had roughly parallel edges for most of it's length, rather than the tapered edges of a dagger, this sword was good at cutting. And with a single piece of metal for both blade and hilt, it was less likely to break than it's predecessors. This so-called Naue-II sword was of central European origin, and it began to appear in Greece shortly before 1200 B.C." - Barry Strauss --The Trojan War
Obviously iron swords built upon the lessons learned from the bronze, and improved where they could.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2009 10:19:01 GMT
May I ask why deepeeka is out of question? I have heard their iron products are not good, but is it known there are problems with their bronze too?
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Post by swordboy bringer of chaos on Nov 25, 2009 10:34:09 GMT
deepeeka is pretty high up there on the suck-meter with every thing..... try ritter steel at www.knightsedge.com they might have something you'll like..... but to the best of my knowlage no one reallt makes "battle ready" bronze swords any more they knida got phased out around the iron age
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2009 12:19:04 GMT
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