Pattern-welded metal

[Juvlar 57]

To add more variety to weapons. Could a more durable version of each metal be created? It would use 60% more of that metal, but last 2x longer.

Pattern welding would give it a swirly texture:

In real life, the technique consists of using a huge amount of different versions of a metal (say, six different steels) and layering them to make the blade more durable. I recall hearing you only used had to use twice as much steel, the rest being thrown away as waste.

This could result in pattern welded blades, either made of Iron, Steel, Seryll, Glimm or Adamantite.


 

[Marlon 303]

You are full of ideas lately...

but this one is actually not so bad. Like folded steel, etc.

 

Makes sense, harder to make, longer, more metal... but less dmg per tick, right?

[Yesirn 166]

I like it.

Damascus steel is made of 2 types of steel usually (from my knowledge at least), I believe its a nickel based alloy and just a normal steel. Don't quote me on that.

It retains an edge better than just normal steel and is more willing to bend than snap.

 

This makes sense +1

[Plebian 89]

Pattern-welding does not make a blade more durable. Wootz/crucible steel falls under the same myth as well about being more durable. All pattern-welding allows you to do, apart from looking pretty when acid etched(which is why modern steel uses nickel alloy along with a plain high carbon), is make the steel more homogeneous in its carbon content and impurities(usually nickel for the modern day). 

 

I always made the assumption we were pattern-welding in the game. We already get multiple small weight pieces of steel, heat them to welding temp, and combine them to produce the weight of blade we want. So we are already going thru the steps of pattern-welding in game.

 

I really believe you are wanting differentially hardened steel for your increased durability of the blade edge. It is what Japanese bladesmiths are famous for doing very well. Which is were your Katana's hamon line comes from. You let one area of the steel cool more quickly than another(the blade edge in this case) to up its hardness while still allowing the spine to be softer and flex. This process was typically done with clay.

 

It would be a nice skill(differential hardening) to add to metallurgy IMO. You could get a blade before adding a handle, add some clay, heat to working temp and quench the blade to create a hardened (blade of your choice). You have a chance on quenching to just create scrap from the blade. The hardened blade could just take less damage from use like oak wood or something. It would also let metallurgist have another set of actions besides just simple creation of alloys. 

 

It would also be just an easy add for the developers. You could just add a hardened version of metals with the reduced damaged from use tag. So there would be Steel longsword and hardened steel longsword etc etc.

 

IF you want your fancy design for pure aesthetics. You could add a skill to make acid for the natural substances skill. They then take a blade and acid etch it to become an acid etched blade. It could give the blade a design OR just make it darker/lighter/glow different colors etc etc.