You can form a colored layer of oxidation on an iron blade by polishing the metal and heating it to a specific...

>You can form a colored layer of oxidation on an iron blade by polishing the metal and heating it to a specific temperature.

>These sorts of treatments were probably pretty common, though they often don't survive on weapons recovered from archaeological sites. Some of the weapons I study (which were buried in graves and, hence, are now heavily corroded) have surviving traces in their metallurgy of having been carefully heated to the right temperature to turn their blades bright blue when they were new. Others have inlayed copper alloy decorations which are hard to see on uncolored steel, but which really pop when the metal is turned black or blue. Brian Gilmour has argued that these kinds of surface finishes were widespread, but have in many cases been polished off by years of over-zealous Victorian museum curators who tried to keep the weapons artificially shiny, and I think he's correct.

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Veeky
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10426910902988059
youtube.com/watch?v=BinWA0EenDY
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(steel)
youtube.com/watch?v=NhjiIPohUyw
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

What kind of man wields a blue sword?

You can theoretically, in the infinite realm of possibility, use this information as "worldbuilding inspiration" for a traditional game if you want to. Just like literally every topic imaginable.
That doesn't mean it IS a traditional game in and of itself. You have not mentioned traditional games at all.
This is not the literally everything board, it is the traditional games board. The rule is written.

>This is not the literally everything board
Good one mate.

Veeky Forums.org/rules#tg

You must be new here, never see the arms and armor threads?

If you're still gonna cry, do it on the meta board.

>citation needed

>do it on the meta board
I thought Veeky Forums was the everything board

Hey, this is the theme of the month for Veeky Forums.

Everyone is crying about everything they don't like because quests are getting booted.

Now we have to deal with nofun shitters about everything now.

My God man, you're SO RIGHT!
Every thread on Veeky Forums has to be 40kids showing off how thin their paints are, or fatguys arguing about which edition of world of dark dungeons and shadowgurps is best!

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10426910902988059

Appeal to tradition. It was against the rules then and it's against the rules now.
Either the rule is true, and should be enforced, or it is false, and should be removed.
I cannot be wrong about the literal meaning of the sequence of words written on the rules page for all to see.

>I wish I was a mod so bad

I don't have a source, but I know exactly what OP is talking about, it's pretty easy to get a wide-range of colors in your metal by applying a combination of heat and chemicals.

You tend to get blue or orange though, red is pretty fucking hard to get since it switches almost right away.

Does anyone want to get answers about Metallurgy?

>Others have inlayed copper alloy decorations which are hard to see on uncolored steel, but which really pop when the metal is turned black or blue.

Jesus Christ, imagine a black steel blade with bright copper inlay.

I'm salivating just thinking about it.

You joke, but that sounds pretty good.
If you are incapable of having fun discussing traditional games on a traditional games board, why are you here?
The other chan's Veeky Forums, even accounting for much smaller population, has virtually no off-topic threads. There's maybe one or two on the catalog at any given time, compared to easily six or seven here. It is demonstrably possible to stick to the designated topic of the board. A lack of ">the redeemed succubus" threads does not kill discussion.

My next Antipaladin is wielding a bright red sword and you can't stop me.

Well, yeah, this is Veeky Forums. I can't make you do anything.

I can, however, point out that there are also some very nice purples, yellows, and desaturated reds on that graph too, which will say 'sinister' without screaming 'edge' quite as loudly as bright red.

Why not go with a nice dark gray inlaid with silver?

>a silver colored blade? This is so 1370s. Get with the times and buy a blue one.
I can only imagine adventurers who travel to some other land where they are considered the most unfashionable people and not treated seriously. It's like wearing socks to sandals - with a suit.

youtube.com/watch?v=BinWA0EenDY

Stat this Veeky Forums.

Actually, what stats would each temper allocate to the sword?

Are you that autist who was getting ass blasted about the skeleton thread? I'm noticing some similarities

Literally anything is better than quests. You could post a picture of a turd and post a question about dung in England in 1111 and it would be better than Quest 222: Electric Boogaloo.

Anti Paladins are edgy by default.

Apparently there's two of us. Good.

Are Counter-Paladins any better?

I don't really give a fuck.

I'm more concerned about having to listen to everyone bitch about everything.

>purple
>using Mace Windu's saber color on an Evil character

The others are neat, though.

What about postpaladins? This doesn't sound as edgy.

You need to fuck off, and fuck off hard. OP's info is cool and of interest to many anons here. Not you, obviously; but you're no fun and like to shit on good times.

Unlike OP, who is cool and informative and doesn't shit on threads.

Veeky Forums likes innovative and interesting ideas.

Instead of generic red and black, you can go with purple and black, or a sickly yellow.
They're still edgy, but they're at least a little more original.

Source? RIS points to tips for forging, not making bitchin' purple swords.

>Muh fuuuuuuunnnn!!!!
The rule is written. If it wasn't fun for some to break rules, we wouldn't need them in the first place.

Eat shit Asmodeus.

>You stand accused of first-degree murder. How do you plead?
>Yeah, I did it, but it was fun so the rule doesn't apply.
>Oh, okay, that changes everything. You can go.

rule of cool, baby. now gtfo.

>compares a thread about swords on a traditional games board, in which people are talking about traditional games related material, to murder

You really better be pretending to be retarded. At this point I'm sure people are responding just to hear the shit you say, which is basically what I'm doing, so if you're a troll consider yourself successful. And if you're not, literally no one is taking you seriously and nothing can be done about it.

>You stand accused of first-degree murder. How do you plead?
>Yeah, I did it, but there's this other rule, which you will never find in any legitimate source and people can't agree on the specifics of, that says I'm allowed to do anything I subjectively claim is cool.
>Oh, okay, that changes everything. You can go.

>Source? RIS points to tips for forging, not making bitchin' purple swords.

here, found it! It's called bluing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(steel)

>he doesn't get away with murder when it's fun
What a fucking newfag.

>what is an analogy
The rule is written. An off-topic thread is still off-topic even if you personally don't mind it.
Zero tolerance is the only way to prevent abuse of power.

It's like he's never played in a fantasy game. I've cooled my my way out of more murders than I can count at this point.

D. Hov sucks

Not a man, but a hobbit.

this isn't your debate club you big dummy. guess what, the mods and jannys enforce rules arbitrarily as it suits them.

zero tolerance is the easiest way to ensure abuse of power.

What about anodizing a blade? Rainbows, bitches.

How does posting about Veeky Forums relevance contribute anything to Veeky Forums?

You've yet to have any Veeky Forums content in your posts, buddy.

Shitposting about what you consider shitposting? Turns out that is, indeed, also shitposting.

Anodizing and iron don't mix too well unless your goal is to make it black . Color anodizing, though useful for many metals, doesn't work to well on most of the ones typically useful for combat, i.e. ferrous.

I've had heat-treatment coloration, however, a part of my setting for some time as I encountered it back in my metal shop days.

The various colors are affected by the temper treatment the blade gets. The hotter the temper the harder the blade, harder isn't always better though, due to the fact that it becomes more brittle as well.

FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT 1065 STEEL IS THE BEST STEEL AND EVERYONE ELSE CAN GET THE FUCK OUT.

Is that temperature or the number for the type of steel?

Number type.

There is no "best" just ones that excel in different applications. You don't want super hard steel in a spring, it'll snap.

Blueing weapons (and other steel tools) is absolutely a thing but this color chart exaggerates to a great degree.

1065 probably makes the best swords.

Or, to be more specific, 1065 with a nitride hardened surface.

For regular carbon steel anyway

Doesn't seem to exaggerated While certainly it's not a flat vibrant color, I don't think anyone was expecting it to not be a bit more metallic and tinged.

It's not like automotive paint or something. I'm more amazed that this is an actual thing at all. Colored swords sound very stylish.

Shame there isn't a way to get green out of it.I think it's the only color of the rainbow missing.

That's what the copper inlay is for.

There are various "blueing" agents, at least some of which can produce green, a blacksmith friend of mine did it to a knife I saw. Dunno if it was something available in preindustrial times.

Also, that picture is of steel that was blued after being cut and polished, in practice you are unlikely to get this kind of result with kind of steel you'd be making a blade out of, or with the process used to make a blade.

Still looks pretty cool

Oh yeah totally

This is cool as fuck, but I'm wondering how medieval smiths were able to control the temperature well and consistently enough to pull this off regularly. I imagine it was a practice reserved for the elite or anyone who could pay for it.

This is giving me so many cool ideas though.

Cool as heck. And you're sure this doesn't wreck the blade or anything?

Steel changes color as it is heated. I imagine it just took a lot of experience.
>heat it to this specific shade of dull cherry red and it'll come out blue when quenched.

It definitely seems like the sort of thing that would take experience and practice to get right. Even then you might need to make multiple attempts.

Still, that's stylish enough that you could easily sell it to nobles or the like for a fair bit more than a typical blade.

>not creating your armor out of tightly-fitted holy symbols
>not crafting your speech entirely out of scripture
>not dedicating your life to the word and spirit of your one true god entirely for the irony
ISHYGDDT

Holy shit, I'm remembering a master armorer in Game of Thrones that lauded himself as being the only one in King's Landing who could "color steel without enameling."

This is his secret, he was bluing the steel. Fuck, it just hit me.

That is exactly the process, it's why blacksmithing buildings tended to be round and have an entrance hall that spiraled around the building. It helped keep the interior dark and the exact shade of the steel's glow more easily discernable.

For anyone interested in blacksmithing I would highly recommend watching Forged in Fire on the history channel.

Want some more cool ideas? Look up Electric Arc Furnaces and imagine those functioning with magic.

Or imagine how fantasy metals react in alloys; is alloyed Mithral steel easier to enchant? Does Adamantine steel have the best hardness/toughness of any metal while still maintaining reasonable ductility? Does the best steel blade have a mithral core edged with Adamantine?

It's not. I've accidentally blued steel.

t. Welder.

Yes, it will be that vibrant.

youtube.com/watch?v=NhjiIPohUyw

>the ancient and medieval worlds were full of vibrant colors
>rainbow swords were a thing
>theropods had feathers

Why is the past so fabulous?

Because the present expects you to see the past as a terrible, regressive land of muted colors and terrible living conditions.

If you maintain the present is the best it's ever been and the past was crap, saying "what is this, the 1950s" becomes a filthy word, declarations of the current year become a rallying cry, and the future can only get better.

I want a purple knife. Confuse everyone and everything.

>Gee, how'd you get a PURPLE knife?
>I got from a giant purple people eater.
>Oh, neat.
>Yeah, and it turns red breddy good when I stick it in the right stuff!
>Really?!

But high medieval sucked hard for almost everybody but a small group of highly privileged guys.
And every time I go to a dentist I imagine how bad would it be without the modern tools and anesthetics. Recently I almost lost my front tooth - back in the day the best I could have would be a local blacksmith pulling it out.
Fuck this noise, [current year] is a pretty good time.

A middle (probably even lower middle) class person in literally any developed country has a higher standard of living than royalty did in the middle ages. By most objective measurements the world is becoming a better place for nearly everyone.

>Recently I almost lost my front tooth - back in the day the best I could have would be a local blacksmith pulling it out.
For a time my grandpa ran a free dental clinic in a rural part of a very,very poor country. It's horrifying what passes for dental care among people who have access to literally none. By the way, on top of sucking in their own right, mouth infections can cause a surprising number of a serious problems in other parts of your body and potentially even by life threatening. So ya, modern dentistry FTW