An Entirely Uneventful Story

[gah!ghost]

Nothing actually happened but this is the first time I have really had this feeling. I ordered pizza earlier in the day and when the pizza guy arrived he kept looking kind of down with a kinda weird quizzical look on his face. I totally felt like he was noticing I was wearing a diaper even though I wasn't. I had been that morning which might have contributed to it. Also I was wearing my pajama bottoms, literally the only thing in my wardrobe that would fit over a diaper as everything else I have are tight jeans and trousers. Never had that feeling before and it was hard to shake even though I knew it was entirely irrational.

Well this is now hours later and I realized what he was looking at. I've always been a bit of a fan of the arms and armor of the medieval and renaissance periods. I've owned a couple late medieval items including a very nice high quality long sword and some maille pieces I made myself. Recently I got the bug again and bought a swept hilt rapier. I haven't found a place to hang it on the wall yet and it's laying on the floor directly in front of the door. It would have been right behind me when I answered the door. I'm sure he was looking down past me trying to figure out why a fancy fencing sword was laying on the carpet in the middle of the floor.

[Honu]

I keep my mameluke in it's scabbord and both in the case. The case is locked in a "firearms safe". Hope you enjoyed your pizza fellow sword owner!

[gah!ghost]

I've always been told keeping a carbon steel blade in it's scabbard is bad for the blade and can promote rust. I can't recall where I heard that though. Who's your mameluke made by? Both my swords are made by Windlass Steelcrafts. They seem to offer great quality for the price compared to a lot of other replica makers like Hanwei and Arms&Armor.

[Honu]

Mine is German stainless with a ceremonial edge. The point has a little business to it though. Are you a metalsmith, welder or student of metalurgey? That would be cool if you were working high carbon and maybe even making Damascus steel! While it's out of my price range, an elegant sword showing the folds of Damascus steel work would be really special.

[gah!ghost]

Naw. I do have an interest in metallurgy and have some layman's knowledge but that's about as far as it goes. There's some really interesting stuff being done with modern stainless steels where you get previously unheard of edge retention and sharpness. Things like the Japanese cutlery steels like VG-10 and ZDP-189 and the American tool steels made by Crucible like D2. A VG-10 blade can take and hold a very fine sharp edge that will stay sharp for months or even years depending on use. Shun by Kershaw makes some really nice Damascus VG-10 kitchen cutlery.

These are unsuited though for swords as they're very hard and not tempered in the same way. Hand forged carbon steel as best I can tell is still the best for swords. You need proper tempering in particular to allow the blade to flex without breaking or bending. You can usually tell a good sword blade by flexing it and seeing it it returns to true. To give you an idea, a quick google search turned this up, a guy testing out a sword (also made by Windlass who made both the swords I own) by flexing it. http://www.swordsofv...lexingSword.jpg

[Honu]

This topic got me looking and what interests me now is L6 Bainite formed into a Katana. I've heard of ceramic knives for the kitchen, but you have to send them back to the factory if you chip the edge. Yes, it's both the steel and the tempering that make a good cutting tool. Mahalo for the interesting discussions!

Honu

[gah!ghost]

Ceramic is either not there yet or will never be there. It's cool as a novelty, I have a ceramic bladed folder, but yeah it's really not an ideal solution for knives. Steel gives you similar if not better performance and edge retention these days and has much better longevity and ease of care. Maybe if ceramics get cheaper it would be a good solution to high quality semi-disposiable knives that you just toss when they get dull after a year or so.

This got off topic in a hurry.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Are ceramic blades still a "drop once" item? If so, their use in swords or halberds just would not...erm...cut it.

Do you plan to get a main guache to go with the swept-hilt?

Ought this thread not be in the Little Boys' Tree Fort

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/skanderbeg.html

[gah!ghost]

Yup actually I do plan on getting a main-gauche. Probably after x-mas once funds are a bit less tight. Ceramics are still pretty delicate. They barely work for kitchen knives and folders no way in hell they'd work for anything larger. You'd have the same problem as with bronze only worse.

[h200420012]

LOL @ OP

I had a similar occurence with a pizza guy, but then I realized he could see rack of shotguns behind me.

[Bettypooh]

A comment about carbon steel rust worries-

Look for a product called "RIG"- Rust Inhibiting Grease- and apply a light film of it on the cleaned surface before storage. It will not evaporate and it takes more than the usual amount of rubbing to break it's protective film This is what many museums use for this purpose and it works really well. I have openly stored very rust-prone steels here in the humid south for over 10 years without a bit of rust getting started so I am now a firm believer in this product One small container will go a very long way and with a light film it doesn't detract from appearance like other greases do. You really can't beat this stuff- give it a try!

Bettypooh

[gah!ghost]

I've always used tough cloths, particularly on my carbon steel pocket knives as those actually get use and need occasional re-application. I'll check out RIG though. The rapier is high polished so I wouldn't want to detract from that.