Pattern Welded Steel Sword

A close up of a pattern welded sword blade made up from two twisted bundles with carbon steel edges.

Pattern welded steel sword.

I received a grant from my local arts funding organization arts nb to give me the time to make the project happen. Pattern welded steel is made using a similar technique to laminating or piled steel. Two or more metals of different combinations are heated to a very high temperature and then hammered together. This is a classic herringbone pattern.

An indian chevron pattern talwar. Twisting heating and hammering drives the crystalline structure of the steel to form the wavy watery pattern which the technique produces. The group of ulfberht swords includes a wide spectrum of. Pattern welded swords show a distinct interwoven figuring in the steel that imparted an especial beauty and visual liveliness to the blade.

The blade of this sword is forged from a blend of 1095 15n20 steel and tempered to create this gorgeous pattern welded damascus steel you see here. It was the first composite pattern welded sword i made and i can still remember the nervous excitement of planning the project. Finely laminated steel hada grain of the japanese sword hamon from differential heat treatment in japanese blades. It is comprised of two twisted bundles forged flat with a wrought iron back and a carbon steel.

The damascus steel swords also known as pattern welded steel swords are entirely made with 1095 5160 l 6 and o1 steel creating a stunning contrast to the folded steel layering. These steels have been folded approximately 400 520 times and the end result has a rockwell hardness rating between 58 60. The need for these techniques come from the competing requirements of a good sword. Often mistakenly called damascus steel blades forged in this manner often display bands of slightly different patterning along their entire length.

Patterns from a piled blade structure philippine barong an indian naga dao and a celtic long sword mechanical damascus steel pattern welded steel. Pattern welding is the practice in sword and knife making of forming a blade of several metal pieces of differing composition that are forge welded together and twisted and manipulated to form a pattern. Ulfberht swords were made during a period when european swords were still predominantly pattern welded false damascus but with larger blooms of steel gradually becoming available so that higher quality swords made after ad 1000 are increasingly likely to have crucible steel blades. This is a sketch to show you what the steel pattern looks like under the fire scale.

This style of pattern weld could possibly be the blodida pattern or blood eddy described in the norse sagas.