Re: Re: The Irony

From: Donald R. Oddy <donald_at_grove.demon.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 20:54:49 GMT

In message
<1360.134.245.148.28.1110473175.squirrel_at_webmail.toppoint.de> "Joerg Baumgartner" writes:
>Jane Williams
>>> 3kg per scimitar?? How /big/ are those things?
>
>> There must be a lot of wastage in manufacture is all I can say (and I
>> don't know much about manufacture).
>
>> The finished article, depending on size and design, I'd expect to weigh
>> about 2-3 pounds.
>
>Spot on, Jane - I calculated a blade about 1 to 1.5 kg, and the rest
>losses in production.
>
>The 450 cubic centimetres describe the raw ingot.

That's a heck of a lot of wastage for working iron. While there will be some loss from finishing, polishing and sharpening there'll be little or none in the forging. It's not a modern process where you cut off the bits you don't need and throw them away because it's more trouble than it's worth to reuse. Instead you hammer the ingot into the right size and shape for the blank you need and then hammer and fold it into the sword. Any cutting is done early on in the process and the scraps are recycled. A lot of the skill is in knowing how the hammering needs to be done to get the right result.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/


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