Stainless Steel Blades

by Benjamin
(Randolph)

Here it is. (Hasn't broken and handles pretty well)

QUESTION: I bought a cheap $15 sword out of a magazine. I new I couldn't expect too much from it as it being a stainless steel blade. But magazine said it was heat tempered, so i figured for $15 it was worth a shot. i got it left it as a wall hanger for about a month, then I got bored. I had to try it out so i gave it a couple practice swings and decided to cut a milk jug and it sliced through perfectly. The blade was decent, tang was horrible though. just a crappy rod tack welded to the sword. Now i have read at almost every site that carbon Steel is better than Stainless Steel by far but in this case is it an exeption? Here is the link:

http://budk.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_46+BK230

ANSWER: You got VERY lucky...

Why? Have a look below, it's the same sword!!

Need I say more... ;-)

Take care.

- Paul

Comments for Stainless Steel Blades

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Holy
by: Anonymous

WOW this is kinda scary... but in all seriousness the blade does not feel like it would break that easily. But still... watching that, I probably will never use it again.

The "Stones in a Cobblestone Sidewalk" analogy always works
by: Anonymous

Oh my goodness, is that video real?

Anyway, it's like working with plaster when we were kids... Why is it, that no matter if its gypsum plaster of paris, or reinfored gypsum plaster, or Portland cement, or concrete... why is it that these materials always SHATTER as oppose to bend/deform? It's not because these materials are weak (e.g. the concrete): it's because the RATIO BETWEEN THE HARDNESS OF THE PARTICLES AND THE STRENGTH WHICH GLUES THEM TOGETHER is too great; that is the particles are too hard/shattery for the glue between them to hold them together.

Hard rubber is tougher than cheese, but both do not shatter. Glass is tougher than egg shells, but both shatter... With a sword, you want something that is like rubber: IRON is an excellent candidate. As it becomes steel to hold a harder edge, it becomes more ~shattery~, but not too much in many cases...

If you put enough chromium in the molten iron when the steel is made in the foundry, the chromium will automatically form chromium carbides in the mixture--particles that are much, much harder than steel--and the more you add, the more of these carbides form. In order to make a steel truly stainless, you need quite a bit...enough to turn your sword into being like a cobblestone sidewalk--easily broken between the stones--instead of the ~glue~ that's between the stones, which is by comparison much tougher

the truth about stainless steel
by: Adam Pendragon

U.S. Marine sabers are made of stainless steel, and they are REAL. I know the man who makes them. The problem with using stainless for sword blades is that virtually all of them are cold machine ground from un-tempered bar stock. Because stainless steel has chromium (and nickle) in it, it's fairly brittle; however, it can be tempered to be flexable, especially if it is hot forged. Marine sabers are stainless steel, yet highly flexable. I have bent some of them to nearly 45% and they bounce right back. in fact, they are nearly as flexable as Windlass swords.
I hope this has settled this debate once and for all, though it probable hasn't.

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