Making a bush sword (at least part of it)

These were some progress shots taken by the photographer to whom I traded a bush sword (Paul Cruz). This isn't all of the process, of course, but it gives at least some idea of what's involved in making a bush sword.

Processing the steel:











After all the forging is completed, the profile is finalized on a grinder, and the blade has the scale cleaned off, filing the primary bevel:









Heating the blade for the first quench:











This is my favorite picture from the whole photo shoot: :)





The first quench into veggie oil: Note that the camera isn't necessarily showing the color in the steel accurately.











Checking with a file to ensure that the blade hardened properly (it did):



Time to do it again: This happens three times unless there is a warp that requires re-heating to fix.









Many warps (and long blades are more prone to that than short blades) can be fixed without reheating if you work quickly and carefully. There is a short time window after the quench before the steel crystals fully set up, and during that time the blade can be flexed back straight. Here I am doing that using my post vise and my vertical quench tank to flex against:



Who is that handsome devil with the stylishly long sideburns? :D