There are good impurities carbon, maganese, silicon, nickel, magnesium, etc. (aloy elements) with benefitial properties and bad impurities like sulfur, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen (gases traped in the iron) that are essentialy holes in the crystal structure. The best way to get gases out of iron is to heat it up till its liquid and spin it in a centrifuge. The elements will layer themselves depending on their density. Gases will move to the center of the centrifuge and escape out of the metal.
The steel you can buy to make knifes/swords nowadays is pretty good to start with if I understood it correctly. Many fold softer steel around the cutting edge to give the blade more flexibility, but impurities shouldn’t be a major issue with modern steel.
I know shit about this as well, but I watch way too many videos so I’m obviously an expert 💖
Japanese metalsmiths would add carbon in the form of charcoal powder, and they would beat this into the steel and fold it into layers. High carbon steel is very high strength and holds a very strong edge, however it is brittle.
Japanese metalsmiths wood alternate different types of steel in the composition of a sword, including softer mild steel that would form the main spline of the blade, allowing it to deflect because it was more malleable and less brittle than the folded deal used on the blade.
Imagine a jar full of marbles. Imagine there’s a shit ton of random large gaps between some marbles across the jar. You can remove those gaps and redistribute the marbles more evenly by smacking the jar. You then end up with bigger groups of closer marbles.
Folding is smacking the jar. It redistributes the atoms in the material in a more homogeneous, more consistent, more uniform way. That’s desirable in materials that are made up of lattices, e.g. steel. Makes them stronger overall because now you have larger groups of atoms connected to each other, fewer gaps within the material.
I don’t know shit about metallurgy, but if they had better iron and still folded it 1000 times, would glorious Nippon steel be even more glorious?
There is no practical benefit to folding regular steel
Does it help remove impurities or something? I should try to read about this later.
There are good impurities carbon, maganese, silicon, nickel, magnesium, etc. (aloy elements) with benefitial properties and bad impurities like sulfur, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen (gases traped in the iron) that are essentialy holes in the crystal structure. The best way to get gases out of iron is to heat it up till its liquid and spin it in a centrifuge. The elements will layer themselves depending on their density. Gases will move to the center of the centrifuge and escape out of the metal.
The steel you can buy to make knifes/swords nowadays is pretty good to start with if I understood it correctly. Many fold softer steel around the cutting edge to give the blade more flexibility, but impurities shouldn’t be a major issue with modern steel.
I know shit about this as well, but I watch way too many videos so I’m obviously an expert 💖
Japanese metalsmiths would add carbon in the form of charcoal powder, and they would beat this into the steel and fold it into layers. High carbon steel is very high strength and holds a very strong edge, however it is brittle.
Japanese metalsmiths wood alternate different types of steel in the composition of a sword, including softer mild steel that would form the main spline of the blade, allowing it to deflect because it was more malleable and less brittle than the folded deal used on the blade.
Imagine a jar full of marbles. Imagine there’s a shit ton of random large gaps between some marbles across the jar. You can remove those gaps and redistribute the marbles more evenly by smacking the jar. You then end up with bigger groups of closer marbles.
Folding is smacking the jar. It redistributes the atoms in the material in a more homogeneous, more consistent, more uniform way. That’s desirable in materials that are made up of lattices, e.g. steel. Makes them stronger overall because now you have larger groups of atoms connected to each other, fewer gaps within the material.
There’s no such thing as “homogeneous” steel. Steel itself is just iron with impurities.
I once read that folding regular “good” steel is actually decreasing it’s quality because you start hammering out the carbon (?).
Take this with a grain of salt though, I can’t remember the source. Would be nice if someone with actual knowledge in metallurgy could confirm this
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