STEEL GUIDE

Dynasty Forge strives to provide both our customers with a choice in modern and traditional steels. Each option provides a different balance in performance, aesthetics and price.  All of our steels are sourced in China, and in the case of modern steels, meet international quality control standards.

COMPARISON CHART

The choice of steel can be a difficult and complex.  The chart below is provided to give a brief overview of the relative characteristics of each option.  Detailed information is below.

1060 Spring Steel

This modern spring steel provides unparalleled durability and shock resilience and is the premier choice for hard cutting.   The blade is capable of taking a 45-degree bend and returning true, providing ample leeway for a less than perfect cut.  Hard testing has shown a 1060 blade capable of handling untraditional cutting materials, such as softwoods and certain hardwoods, which would be considered abuse for traditional blades.

Nevertheless, this increased performance is offset by other considerations.   The steel does not exhibit any grain, folds or differential hardening, giving it a workman-like appearance complementary to its cutting ability.  Furthermore, the 1060 blades are generally made thicker, and therefore heavier, than their high-carbon steel counterparts to maintain rigidity.

1095 High-Carbon Steel

This modern steel closely matches the carbon content of traditional high-carbon steels used in sword-making yet, due to its purity and homogeneity, provides a superior cutting blade.  The blade offers increased edge retention and durability to shock with traditional handling characteristics, both in weight, rigidity and balance.   This balance in performance and handling makes the 1095 line a top choice for practitioners of traditional sword arts.

Our 1095 blades are differentially clay-tempered and exhibit a clearly delineated temper-line. When taken to a hand-polish, the steel shows a very fine sand-like grain.

Forge-Folded Steel

The forge-folded blade is a pattern-welded Damascened steelmade from 1095, 1085 and 1060. This process closely mimics the grain found in traditional steel (Tamahagane/Jade steel), although it is generally higher-contrast and less organic.

The forge-folded blades are differentially clay-tempered and exhibit a clearly delineated temper-line. The grain of the steel is clearly visible in both a hybrid and traditional stone polish.

The use of modern steels provides a blade similar in performance to the 1095 line, although marginally less durable due to the variances in carbon content from the pattern-welding process.   Nevertheless, the forge-folded steel produces a blade that excels in both aesthetics and performance.

Tamahagane/Jade Steel

Our Tamahagane/Jade steel is smelted by our craftsmen in the traditional process that pre-dates modern steel producing technology.  Starting from iron-sand and charcoal,the raw materials are heated in a clay smelter, producing a solid steel bloom that is smashed into smaller pieces and hand-sorted by our smiths for carbon content.  These fragments are then forged and folded into a solid billet from which a blade is meticulously shaped.   This traditional process produces an inherently impure steel, and it is these very impurities that give the steel a complex and organic grain. 

Our Tamahagane/Jade steel blades are differentially clay-tempered and stone-polished to reveal the grain. This steel is the only choice for a truly authentic reproduction piece, in both aesthetics and performance.