Industrial steel for samurai swords

February 2, 2017

Nowadays, industrial steel is often used for the serial production of sword blades. The most common representative of this is carbon steel. The advantages of industrial steel are obvious:

The steel is available in almost unlimited quantities
It has very good properties
The composition is standardised and therefore almost identical
The steel is favourable
Further processing is comparatively simple

Non-stainless steel (e.g. carbon steel) is more suitable for blades for active use. The difference to stainless steel is in this article explained. All blades made of non-stainless steel require regular maintenance. Care.
In this segment, many types of steel are suitable for the manufacture of sword blades. However, these are the most commonly used:

Carbon steel

Or also carbon steel, carbon steel, carbon steel, AHS (Advanced High Strengh) steel, AHSS or HCS (high carbon steel). Basically, however, all names describe the same material.

Carbon steel refers to a low-alloy steel that contains carbon (up to 2.1%) and hardly any other alloying elements apart from iron.

1045 carbon steel

1045er Kohlenstoffstahl besitzt einen Kohlenstoffgehalt ca. 0.45 Massenprozent. Mit der richtigen Wärmebehandlung wird bei diesen Klingen in der Regel eine Härte um 45 HRC erreicht.
Vorausgesetzt, dass eine Klinge eine richtige Angel besitzt, keine reine Deko-Klinge ist und die Wärmebehandlung ordentlich erfolgt ist, „überleben“ Schwerter aus diesem Material Schnitttests. Auf Grund der spezifischen Stahleigenschaften würden wir dafür aber anderen Stahl empfehlen.

1060 carbon steel

Dieser Stahl besitzt einen Kohlenstoffgehalt ca. 0.6 Massenprozent. Damit kann eine Härte von gut 50 HRC erreicht werden. Das Material ist für Klingen für Schnitttests geeignet und vergleichsweise günstig.

1095 carbon steel

Dieses Material hat einen hohen Kohlenstoffgehalt, der den Stahl hart macht. So erreicht er eine Härte von ca. 60 HRC. Zusätzlich kommt häufig eine Differenzialhärtung zum Einsatz.
Provided it is processed correctly, this steel is well suited for blades for cutting tests, as it can be finely ground and is very hard.

Spring steel

Like carbon steel, this term is an umbrella term for several types of steel. These have a high elasticity. This means that they tend to take on their original shape when they are deformed. This naturally qualifies this steel for cutting tests, where the blade can quickly bend if the cut is not made properly.

L6 or L-6

L6 Bainite blades are made from L6. These blades have very good properties, are hard, extremely sharp and durable. They combine many of the positive characteristics you would want in a sword.
However, the heat treatment of this material is very complex and only a few can really master the manufacturing process.
Haward Clark has perfected the manufacturing process and makes blades to order, but they are relatively expensive.
MAS is also able to produce L-6 Bainite swords in good quality.
We would not recommend blades from other manufacturers made from this material.