A load of military Relics

Nice war relic collection! Super score on the tsuba! I'd check that out and see who made it, it may be valuable, as some Japanese swords go back hundreds of years, and some makers' swords are extremely desired and valuable. GL!

I'm planning to have it evaluated. I was surprised to learn that its made of very high carbon steel. I don't think I has any rust on it but I dug it up from nearly a foot down

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HistoryStudent said:

I'm planning to have it evaluated. I was surprised to learn that its made of very high carbon steel. I don't think I has any rust on it but I dug it up from nearly a foot down

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How did you determine the carbon content of the steel?

Wow those are some really neat relics and nice GW too! Congrats!

I don't know the exact carbon content, of course, but I spoke with a person who collects them and he said that they had to be made of high carbon steel to prevent nicks and dings in a sword fight and to prevent rust. I don't know much about metallurgy and I didn't know carbon prevented rust. I do know the hilt is surprisingly heavy for its size and it's not rusty. That's all I can tell you for sure.

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Hmmmm, that's odd, the Katana that I used to have (an authentic Japanese-made one) had a brass tsuba on it. Perhaps it was owned by a higher ranking person. I wish I still had that sword, but foolishly, I sold it.

I was told that brass was used for ceremonial swords because it was softer and it would polish up nicely but carbon steel was used for fighting swords. I thought mine was brass at first which is why he told me about the ceremonial VS fighting sword. Please understand though that I know nearly nothing about swords of any kind. I'm just quoting what I was told.

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Well the addition of carbon does not make the steel rust resistant, it increases its strength. To make steel rust resistant, other metals such as chromium are added. Chrome molybdenum and chrome vanadium are two popular alloys of steel.

Generally, there are two separate categories of steel--stainless steel and carbon steel. Stainless steel does contain carbon, but is further alloyed with chromium for rust resistance. The higher the chromium content, the more rust resistance, but then you begin to lose the strength of carbon steel as you increase the chromium content.

Each blade maker tries to hit a sweet spot of chemical content along with superior heat treatment to give the blade the special characteristics required for the blade's intended purpose. Increase hardness too much and you end up with a blade that is too brittle, and will snap or chip out. High carbon steel makes excellent cutlery, but without chromium it lacks rust resistance, so you have to care for it more diligently than "stainless" steel (which, is a misnomer, as it is merely stain/rust resistant, not entirely rust proof). Blades used in marine environments, especially in salt water, generally have a higher chromium content to resist corrosion. Axes and some fine tool steels are usually high carbon, for keen edge holding and toughness. Selecting the right steel and heat treatment for the intended purpose is quite an art, and many bladesmiths jealously guard their blade making formulas.

I said swords but I was talking about the hilt in this case

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