A Blacksmith's Introduction to Steel Types and Quality

Check out Adam's work:

As you can imagine a blacksmith knows a thing or two about the material he works with, so in this videos Adam gives some pointers about different grades of steel, like a beginner's guide if you will.

If you're wondering about the main differences between high carbon and stainless steel, or which hardness on the Rockwell C scale (HRC) is most suitable for what kind of sword, this video is for you.

Previous video explaining "Damascus" (pattern-welded steel):

A good read on knife steels:

Support the channel, get bonus content and other rewards:

Books about history and/or martial arts, swords, knives, video/audio equipment, and other stuff I recommend:

Kult of Athena, my favorite online store for reproductions of historical arms and armor, fantasy swords, etc:

Where to get HEMA gear and practice swords:

Get in contact or see a list of my video uploads:

Channel-related shirts and other merch:

My side channel (for rambles, vlogs, opinions, gaming, etc):

Best-selling knives on Gearbest:

[primalwerewolf]

Loved this. Straight simple answers. No beating around the bush, some long history lesson everyone knows, and no excessive use of technical terms. You quickly explained what they meant and what it did. Thanks for uploading this!

[Schmidt]

Red plaid = woodworker, lumberjack
Blue plaid = metalworker, smith

[joynelbonetdelgado]

Whatever you need. by Ysmir if it's simple and strong, I can forge it.

[TheWoodsman]

Gold is for the mistress, silver for the maid
Copper for the craftsman, cunning at his trade.
"Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall,
"But Iron, Cold Iron, is master of them all."

[krystofdayne]

This was pretty useful for me because I watch a lot of your videos where you just briefly mention the type of steel of the knife, sword, whatever you're reviewing and I'm really a very casual fan, I'm not really interested in buying or using these weapons, and I wasn't curious enough to research this stuff for myself but it's still useful to know.

[Vaalin]

C: "The riddle... of steel."
TD: "Yes! You know what it is don't you boy. Shall I tell you? It's the least I can do. Steel isn't strong boy, flesh is stronger! Look around you. There, on the rocks; that beautiful girl. Come to me my child... That is strength boy! That is power! What is steel compared to the hand that wields it? Look at the strength in your body, the desire in your heart, I gave you this! Such a waste. Contemplate this on the tree of woe. Crucify him!"

[thug]

You can’t go wrong with 5160 spring steel. The stuff’s pretty much indestructible. It will always spring back to true, hence the name spring steel. Just make sure to keep a wire brush handy as it will rust if not oiled regularly.

[TheWVgoodguy]

As a extremely noob want to be blacksmith/bladesmith I found both the videos with Adam to be really informative and helpful. Thanks you both for sharing.

[dreadsire]

I love that anytime I search swords, daggers, axes basically any old melee weapons, YouTube and Google always shows me your videos first.

[thomashounsome]

Excellent video, really goes to show how a blacksmith is a materials scientist. Thank you for this.

[phatbassanchor]

Thanks for yet another awesome video Skall!!! While I am no blacksmith, I am actually able to follow your rather technical discussion and already understand a good deal of what you discussed. :) My modern take on a wakizashi has an extended grip allowing me to use two hands for better control in my old age. I have my 1095 KaBar at roughly 57 rockwell with the extended 9" blade and composite handle for most hard use cutting tasks. It can cut through a steel belted radial tire and after a trip to the strop is still shaving sharp. I've had it several years and never needed to sharpen, only strop it. Then I have a 7cr17 MoV bladed stainless bowie that I tend to use in the kitchen even though I bought it for field food prep. It's somewhere in the low to mid 50's rockwell. I have my 'old faithful' Buck 119 pattern in 420 stainless. The 420 requires the most sharpening maintenance but is also the easiest blade to resharpen. Then there's my Kukri that gets most of it's use chipping up Mesquite branches into little bits to add to my gas grill for that little extra Mesquite flavor. the Windlass ad said 'high carbon steel' but did not give the specs. I would guess it falls somewhere in the 1070 to 1085 range as it's cut more Mesquite branches than I can count and that bastard is still shaving sharp! Most of my general purpose blades are 440 stainless, AUS-8, 7cr17 or better. I've been looking at some new blades in D-2 tool steel which I didn't hear either of you mention. I have no practical experience using D-2 so I was hoping to hear more about it. Maybe next time. :) I heard you mention differential hardening which I used to think was just for katana swords. However, I've seen quite a few videos of smiths using clay binding and other methods of differential heat treat and it looks hard to do but has rewarding results. In fact, I think if I were to ever spend more than $100 on a blade it would be differentially heat treated rather than the hard steel wrapped and forge welded in mild steel San Mai technigue. Any input you have on these thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks again! :)

[mannypardo]

These are the sorts of videos I like seeing. They help buyers navigate the dire straights of quality versus budget. Awesome job!

[AFCAWorldBodybuildingArchive]

I love this chatting with Adam. More of that. He is an awesome guest and his knowledge is great supplement to your channel 💪😎

[aldor]

Our daddy taught us not to be ashamed of our steels
Especially since they're of such a good carbon content and all

[ptbro]

I was really looking for a video like this, thanks.

[Han-rwev]

This one video taught me more about steel than I've ever known.

[traceydeanrainey]

Great video guys I’m a metallurgist and your right about the steels your talking about, I love 5160 Steel and 9260 steel .

[darksamich]

If they were to touch their ponytails the energy that would come from it would destroy the universe

[ieatcaribou]

5160 spring steel is my absolute favorite for large choppers and medium sized swords. It's affordable and very, very tough.

[MelancholyPanda]

finally asked for this during a live stream and have been waiting since thx for listening to your community and being a good content creator