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Post by aldarith on Jun 26, 2020 16:44:24 GMT
Hey folks,
Living in a small apartment with limited resources.
I have an EN45 blade made by (i think) stock removal. It has no heat treat (as far as I know) and I'd like to give it a heat treat if possible in order to give it the properties of edge retention and hardness all sword owners know and love.
Has anyone successfully been able to heat treat a blade in a home setting on a budget, and if so, how?
If not, what is my next best option?
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jun 26, 2020 20:01:49 GMT
How long is the blade?
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Post by aldarith on Jun 26, 2020 20:18:17 GMT
It's ballpark around 21" without measuring. It's a Deepeeka Gladius blade.
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jun 26, 2020 23:47:49 GMT
Uh... no. Not in an apartment. Jankiest, cheapest way to try to heat treat it would be to build a makeshift trough forge of coals with a hair dryer connected to a steel pipe drilled full of holes as a bellow. Then quench it in a horizontal trough of canola oil and temper it in your oven. You'd want to do this all outside, and preferably outside the city limits.
But you'd have to dismantle the hilt, build the forge and quenching trough, heat it to nonmagnetic, quench it, temper it, then probably realize it's warped or otherwise ruined because that's what happens the first few times you try, or overshoot the tempering and make it just as soft as it was before. EN45 doesn't get very hard anyways. And then you'll have to start completely over with the polishing and sharpening, because all that gets ruined when you stick it in the forge. And then you'll have to remount the hilt fittings.
It's not worth it. Fooling around with a homemade forge is fun in itself, but it's an expensive waste of time if you're trying to improve a budget sword that really has no potential for that kind of improvement. Just enjoy the Deepeeka as is or sell it cheap and start saving for a higher quality gladius. Realize that most Roman soldiers probably had blades that were pretty soft by modern standards. Possibly softer than the Deepeeka.
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Post by aldarith on Jun 27, 2020 14:41:45 GMT
All good points! I do have some limited outdoor space, but it's probably not enough to build anything permanent or significant.
I was just wondering if there were any simple methods as I had heard something about an oven heat treat at one point but wasn't sure whether to take it seriously or not.
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Post by aldarith on Jun 27, 2020 14:42:33 GMT
Also I was hesitant to mention 'Deepeeka' as I know the stigma surrounding them, I don't want it to hurt the possibility of getting an answer
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jun 28, 2020 0:00:47 GMT
The kitchen oven gets hot enough to temper a blade that is already hardened. But hardening it means getting it red-orange hot first and then quenching it in oil, probably resulting in a big old plume of flame and smoke. So, no.
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Post by aldarith on Jun 28, 2020 4:20:04 GMT
Aha, that makes perfect sense.
So let's say blue sky - what would I do to get it hot enough to heat it outdoors on a budget if I were able to create a safe receptacle for oil quenching?
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jun 28, 2020 17:10:33 GMT
Like I said, a coal forge with a bellows. The forge can be a trough made of firebricks.
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Alan Schiff
Registered
Manufacturers and Vendors
Posts: 463
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Post by Alan Schiff on Jul 6, 2020 21:10:40 GMT
To be perfectly honest, IMHO any method you devise to heat treat a Deepeeka wouldn't be worth it for such a cheap blade. You could build a forge for $30-$50 if you source the material wisely, but then add the cost of the quench tank plus oil, and any tools you would need to straighten (if necessary) and polish the blade.
You could send it out for heat treatment to one of the smiths on the forums here, but you'd still be spending a significant portion of the cost for another Deepeeka or other inexpensive sword. Just doesn't seem worth it to me.
Hope that helps.
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Post by Dandelion on Jul 17, 2020 11:28:14 GMT
Well... strange. We have two Deepeeka Gladii, and they are definitely heat treated. Do they do different lines? Or just inconsistence?
Edit: we have one Deepeka viking as well; also comes back straight when bent. Quite hard to bend, though.
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Scott
Member
Posts: 1,674
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Post by Scott on Jul 17, 2020 14:02:49 GMT
Well... strange. We have two Deepeeka Gladii, and they are definitely heat treated. Do they do different lines? Or just inconsistence? Edit: we have one Deepeka viking as well; also comes back straight when bent. Quite hard to bend, though. They do different lines, some heat treated and some not. Some designs are available either way.
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