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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2010 11:59:25 GMT
Alright, I was doing some cutting yesterday, and I noticed this when I was finished; I'm not sure if you can tell in the pictures, but the handle is deflected to the right out of line with the blade, suggesting to me that the actual tang has been bent. I'm not 100% sure what to do here; I don't imagine straightening it up again would be hard (just careful application of a hammer, I'd guess. I tried bending it back by hand, but that didn't work.) but I am concerned about potential metal fatigue or if that would happen often again. My claymore is one of the ones that has a rivet going through the langets and blade (I think there's meant to be a version without) so it probably won't result in a Spinning Helicopter Blade Of Death situation if the tang does break... but I'd be gutted it it did break. I have no doubt that bad cuts are the cause of this (I occasionally send 2-litre bottles flying. ) but I'm wondering what I should do from here. A second considerably less urgent concern is this; Again, I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but the blade isn't quite in line with where it attaches to the handle. This is probably just an imperfection that is to be expected at this price-point but it makes edge alignment a little tricky and it just bugs me, so is there any way I can twist it around so it lines up properly? Or should I not worry about this? I tried putting the blade in a vice and applying torque via the quillons, but that didn't really accomplish anything. Thanks in advance for your help. -Blaze
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2010 14:21:42 GMT
Huuh, looks bad. What's the grip made of? If it's wood I'd be careful about bending the thing even more. Weird that the grip didn't crack the first time this happened. Maybe the whole tang bent at the shoulders? That'd explain the intact grip... in that case, try to bend it back, if that doesn't work, grind the peen away, take off the wooden grip and hammer the damn thing straight.
For your second problem I'd to the same, try bending it like that (vice and careful tapping with a hammer), if that doesn't work take the sword apart and straighten it. Then move up the shoulders a bit, get yourself a torch and re-peen the whole thing. If you can't do this for some reason, I fear you can't do much about this.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2010 16:22:21 GMT
I can't really qualify this, but it seems to me when metal has been bent and bent back, it is always weaker than before. It seems when steel flexes, it hasn't broken anything internally, but if it stays bent, something has changed in the structure of the steel. Someone with a handle on the metallurgy can clarify this. I would straighten it and then hang it up and leave it there.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2010 16:37:03 GMT
Huuh, looks bad. What's the grip made of? If it's wood I'd be careful about bending the thing even more. Weird that the grip didn't crack the first time this happened. Maybe the whole tang bent at the shoulders? That'd explain the intact grip... in that case, try to bend it back, if that doesn't work, grind the peen away, take off the wooden grip and hammer the damn thing straight. For your second problem I'd to the same, try bending it like that (vice and careful tapping with a hammer), if that doesn't work take the sword apart and straighten it. Then move up the shoulders a bit, get yourself a torch and re-peen the whole thing. If you can't do this for some reason, I fear you can't do much about this. I'll try bending it back with a hammer. If I do need to take it apart and do something more invasive, it might be time consuming but I'd be willing to do it. Filing back the shoulders a little probably wouldn't have too much of a negative impact, though I would be worried aesthetically about the langets. I'd need to remove the rivet there, and I don't have anything I could use to make a new one with. I can't really qualify this, but it seems to me when metal has been bent and bent back, it is always weaker than before. It seems when steel flexes, it hasn't broken anything internally, but if it stays bent, something has changed in the structure of the steel. Someone with a handle on the metallurgy can clarify this. I would straighten it and then hang it up and leave it there. Yeah, metal fatigue is one of my main concerns. I'd really like to avoid having to leave it on the wall if there's anything else I could do, though. Edit;I've decided against doing anything until I get a few more people's opinions, so I encourage anyone else to share their two cents on the matter. Edit again;Alright, so I tried hammering the tang straight today... I don't know how I managed to bend it (or even if maybe it came like that as a forging flaw and I only noticed now) but I can't bend it straight. It isn't budging. Well, if it's not moving I guess it's not in danger of breaking any time soon. I did manage to get the alignment more-or-less streightened up, though, which I am quite happy about.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2010 12:25:34 GMT
what brand of sword is that?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2010 16:25:37 GMT
Looks to me like the Highland Claymore, by Hanwei. Am I right?
Blaze, it seems to me, that if it bent once, and you bent it back... it'll bend again. That'd make me a little nervous. Dan or Sam might be able to offer a solution.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2010 13:02:42 GMT
Looks to me like the Highland Claymore, by Hanwei. Am I right? Blaze, it seems to me, that if it bent once, and you bent it back... it'll bend again. That'd make me a little nervous. Dan or Sam might be able to offer a solution. Yes, it is. As for bending it back... I didn't. Or rather, I couldn't. Like I said in the last edit of my previous post, I tried and it wouldn't budge. I'm really not sure what to make of it. I don't think the tang is in any danger of breaking, but I'm no metallurgy expert and I wouldn't know. I really am starting to wonder if it was just made like that and I only noticed now...
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Post by YlliwCir on Aug 27, 2010 20:32:55 GMT
Looks to me like the Highland Claymore, by Hanwei. Am I right? Blaze, it seems to me, that if it bent once, and you bent it back... it'll bend again. That'd make me a little nervous. Dan or Sam might be able to offer a solution. Yes, it is. As for bending it back... I didn't. Or rather, I couldn't. Like I said in the last edit of my previous post, I tried and it wouldn't budge. I'm really not sure what to make of it. I don't think the tang is in any danger of breaking, but I'm no metallurgy expert and I wouldn't know. I really am starting to wonder if it was just made like that and I only noticed now... I'd say that's a distinct possiblity. I have a Hanwei Albrecht II that the grip is a bit off true the other way. I've tried bending it to straight to no avail. I just use it anyhow, I don't notice it unless I look close.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2010 22:39:29 GMT
And I doubt that the sword will just snap right off. If the metal was soft enough to bend, then it will just keep bending and you SHOULD notice that your problem is getting worse.
So just keep using it, keep an eye on the problem. If it starts getting worse then hang it up.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2010 1:22:28 GMT
Thanks for your replies. If the tang did simply come forged like that (or maybe the handle core isn't quite made perfectly), then that's quite a relief. I really like my claymore and it'd be a huge shame to have to retire it so soon after getting it. Greg has a good point too - if it is going to get worse, I don't think it'd be too hard to notice. With the weight of the blade it would probably start flopping around like it was made of wet cardboard if it got really bad. Thanks again!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2010 3:41:04 GMT
this particular sword, that i always found very fascinating, but never bought, i never purchased due to the length of tang and the narrowness of the handle in relation to one another. while i am sure that it could have been just a worrisome thought, since such a sword may have actually been used in real battle in days gone by, has been proven, by this thread, that my fears were confirmed by the reproduction model. i think it is most unfortunate that hanwei has some problems with certain swords. there is another thread, where it was stated that it was interesting that a chinese forge makes terrific japanese swords, but has trouble with chinese swords. up until now, however, i have heard mostly good things about the euro styled swords that hanwei produces, except edge geometry. i have a tinker hanwei bastard blade, a cas hanwei agincourt, a hanwei dadao, and a rodel hanwei jian. these are good swords. the only fluke was the rodel jian, but easily fixed. the edge geometry on the agincourt leaves something in the desire department. the other two are outstanding.
i say all that to ask this... is the sword in question an oder model or newer? was it made as cas, or cas/hanwei, or just hanwei. not considering the time of sale, but time of manufacturing? the reason to ask this is so that those of us who are on the purchasing end, and not the vendor end can watch out for problems, and so that those on the vendor end can QA what they ship. just a thought.
also was this a result of a flubbed cut, or did it come this was from hanwei, and wasnt noticed until after a flubbed cut? that would explain why it wouldnt bend back. if it came that way, it could be from a problem when quencing causing it to draw slightly to one side, then missed by QA.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2010 7:13:56 GMT
I've actually had a sword blank show up with a bent tang. It was a project sword, my first, so I just took it to my "anvil" (read rail road rail) and tapped on it till it was straight again. It hasn't bent since, and it's been under a 10 minute destruction test.
But please keep us up to date as to what happens with this sword. I hope that it just was missed by QA and that the problem doesn't get worse.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2010 8:17:00 GMT
The SAME exact thing happened to me with the SAME exact sword. The tang on mine broke whilst I was trying to straighten it out. Only mine bent to about a 45 degree angle. I was hoping that mine was just a lemon, it seems that it is a little bit consistent now. There should be epoxy holding the handle onto the tang. It is quite possible that the tang of your sword has already broken and the epoxy is the only thing holding it into place. At any rate, I would see if you can send it back to wherever you bought it from. If not, I say break the handle off to see if the tang is already broken. If it is, you just potentially saved a life. If not, at least you can straighten the tang out easier. Except for the broken tang, my claymore had the most solid hilt construction of any sword I have ever had. You may have a hard time getting the wood grip off if that is what you decide to do.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2010 16:43:03 GMT
I'm thinking it was just a QA problem. I did some cutting with it yesterday and nothing changed. Not to mention I just looked closely at a picture I took close to when I first got it and I think I can see the same bend in the same place.
As for what model it is, I have no idea. I can tell you that it's whatever one has a rivet going through the blade and the langets, but I'm not sure beyond that. I've heard of some that don't have it.
I'll keep you all posted like Greg suggested.
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