new blade bent

[klauver]

"Just put the foil on the ground and pull. It's hard to describe in text but not that hard to master. To get the bend out, place the foil on the floor with the highest part of the bend up. Step on the foil with your foot until you've pressed the blade to the ground. Now pull the foil out from under your foot while maintaining pressure. When you get to the bend, pull up on the foil. Once you've pulled the bend out, turn the foil over and put a proper curve it it. "

Just be careful what type of floors you do this on! Don't try it on varnished wood or rubber gym floors or you will ruin the floor and probably get chased from the place by an irate maintenace person!

[Mergs]

Well, there are several ways of getting your original "set" or bend to the blade. I routinely have my beginners bring their blades to me to be "set". And I do it by placing the blade on the floor, stepping on it about a third of the way from the guard and as I slide my foot towards the tip, pull up on the blade and bend it. Also, I have taken a crescent wrench (~10 in) and slipped the open ended loop over the blade and used it at a fulcrum and lever to "set" the blade from just in front of the guard to the middle of the blade. Can give a nice uniform bend from well down the blade to whereever you want it to.

[Masterurethane]

Artisan,

I'm not talkin about reforging the blade or anything, but if you've bent a blade in a bout, and need to straighten it, it's less likely to snap if it isn't stone cold. This does make sense.

Purple fencer,

Thanks for the advice man, but I tend to do it with my gloved hand.

[Artisan]

I'm not talkin about reforging the blade or anything, but if you've bent a blade in a bout, and need to straighten it, it's less likely to snap if it isn't stone cold. This does make sense.

Yeah... I've had this argument before. Keep warming blades if it feels right and "makes sense." But really - at temperatures at which you are apt to be fencing, lets assume its between freezing and boiling (0-100˚ C, or 32- 212˚F) the metal in your blade sees no difference. Really.

If steel changed dramatically at atmospheric temperatures, all those automobile crash tests you've seen films of would show the dummies wearing fur trimmed parkas, and the engineers would have down filled lab coats because Ralph Nader would not let us drive cars that were any less safe on cold days than when its warm.

[Masterurethane]

Hmmm.

It would appear I have been indoctrinated into false morals.

Thank you!

[Swordmaster]

Yeah... I've had this argument before. Keep warming blades if it feels right and "makes sense." But really - at temperatures at which you are apt to be fencing, lets assume its between freezing and boiling (0-100˚ C, or 32- 212˚F) the metal in your blade sees no difference. Really...

Well,
It does help to form the blade or bend the tang if you slightly warm up the metal. From experience I can tell you that it is much easier to set the curve in a warm blade and I and broken many a tang by not heating it first.
In setting the curve I like to use a leather work glove and rub it vigorously until it is uncomfortably warm to touch, taking care to dress the edge with a file on used blades can save you the trouble of pulling out metal spliters. I then use the affore mentioned shoe, floor drag technique.
For bending tangs on blades that I feel are particularly resistant to bending, I warm the tang area at the point I wish to bend it with a small butane torch to a hot to the touch point then I quickly set the bend. By the time I am done it is cool enough to handle with out feeling like you will be burned.
Neither of these methods brings the tempurature above the 100c mark, yet I find it useful in acchieveing the results I am looking for in the shortest time.

[Mr.Piccolo22]

For bending tangs on blades that I feel are particularly resistant to bending, I warm the tang area at the point I wish to bend it with a small butane torch to a hot to the touch point then I quickly set the bend. By the time I am done it is cool enough to handle with out feeling like you will be burned.

Swordmaster-
I am sure you know this, but you cannot take a torch to a blade.

m.12
2. All methods of soldering or brazing or in general any heating which may affect the temper of the blade are forbidden

You can find that it has been discussed in http://www.fencing101.com/vb/showthr...=Heating+Blade

If you didn't know - Sorry to tell ya....

Mr. P

[Swordmaster]

...which may affect the temper of the blade
...

Mr.P
You have to get it hotter than I am getting it to effect the temper of the blade. I don't even get it hot enough to burn human flesh, so I can't possibly effect the temper of the blade. I know that some one may read my post and take a torch to a blade and get it too hot, possibly I should have used the term "heat gun" which is a much slower method of heating the blade, but if you are not careful you can still achieve 1000F from one of those babies. If it comes down to snaping the tang off of a $100 blade assembly and putting a little heat on it in just the right place, I choose the later.

[Artisan]

The rule applies to the BLADE and not the TANG. Otherwise you would not be allowed to cut, file, grind, or thread the tang to fit your grip. A properly manufactured blade, especially maraging blades should have the tang annealed already so it will accept a cant without breaking. Annealing is heating the metal to a dull red temperature and letting it air cool. This relieves the temper and removes any stresses or hardness in the metal. Swordmaster is correct in applying heat to a tang that feels very stiff, but 100˚C is not enough to do anything. A torch is best because it will put enough heat into a small area quickly enough, without having too much heat travel into the body of a blade. This is how it is done at a factory. A heat gun will get hot enough, but it is not concentrated enough to warm just the tang to dull red without a lot of heat getting into the forte.

Sometimes on you can see a faint rainbow hue on the tang, formed by oxides on the surface of hot steel. Blue / violet/ gold. This is from the annealing. The color of the surface of the steel indicates the approximate temperature it reached when heated:
Pale blue = 610˚F
Purple = 530˚F
golden yellow = 469˚F
pale yellow = 428˚F

More info, and about Marageing Steel:
http://www.threeplanes.net/toolsteel.html