Chapter 568 - 271: A Plan Even Crazier Than Ozaki’s Eight Steps [Double-Length] (Part 2)

"Brothers, Lian Feng’s knife is damaged. We’re in the process of repairing it. Could anyone knowledgeable in sword forging tell us if our steps are correct?"

The young man with the beard, referred to as Lian Feng, said irritably, "Stop making noise, don’t disturb them."

At this point, Lian Feng already discerned that Li Younan obviously had genuine skills. He looked at Li Younan’s face curiously, he felt a sense of familiarity as if he’d seen him somewhere before, but couldn’t recall specifically where.

Meanwhile, Li Younan had completely entered into a very intriguing state; to ensure the knife’s temperature was even, he kept adjusting the heat’s position.

What was even more impressive was how he continuously used slight movements of the tongs and the fluctuations of the charcoal airflow to create a micro temperature gradient inside the blade. This approach could reserve stress guide channels for subsequent forging, a mastery of human and fire integration that modern industrial equipment cannot replicate.

It’s worth mentioning that for most sword forging craftsmen, carelessly heating steel would likely weaken the steel’s inherent strength.

But for legendary figures like Li Younan at this level, there’s actually a certain probability of activating the latent potential of industrial steel.

This is because the core advantage of industrial steel is not performance but fundamental uniformity.

Modern industry achieves a high degree of uniformity in the grain size of high-strength stainless steel through vacuum smelting, continuous casting, and rolling; this foundational uniformity cannot be replicated by hand, but industrial forging is standardized and mass-produced, with forging rhythm and cooling curves fixed, potentially not fully adapting to the individual differences of each piece of steel.

Modern industrial sword forging relies on the power of industry using wildly exotic materials, including various alloys.

However, just focusing on steel, compared to a master like Li Younan, industry lacks the precise control over graded cooling.

This is the point where human skill can contend with modern industry in sword forging.

For instance, in the very popular "Sword Forging Competition" show, a contestant managed to increase the hardness of steel originally at HRC60 to HRC62 while simultaneously boosting its toughness by 20%.

And Li Younan would only do better.

At this time, what tested Li Younan’s skill was the array of on-site tools, which was indeed lacking.

Too simplistic.

Though the barbecue grill had the disadvantage of fast heat dissipation, Li Younan thought of a method to turn this disadvantage into an advantage: utilize natural air cooling by exposing non-repaired parts outside the grill, achieving local heating and local insulation.

Such sectional pre-heating can greatly reduce the thermal stress of stainless steel.

At a certain critical point, Li Younan sensed the temperature had reached a perfect level. He swiftly and decisively clamped out the knife, placed it on a steel plate, and stretched his hand: "Give me the hammer."

The next moment, he started hammering.

Li Younan had a very intriguing feeling; the hammer was not only a tool but also a metal detector. During the strikes, the vibration frequency transmitted up the hammer handle allowed him to feel the crack directions within the blade.

He began spirally breaking points, advancing from the gap edge to the center, using the elastic rebound of the steel plate to reverse the force of stainless steel.

Each strike precisely re-weaved the originally fractured metal flow lines, resulting in a higher crystal grain density at the gap area compared to the original knife.

This experience was quite mystical; Li Younan could even judge the straightness of the edge line by the echo of the hammering.

As the echo gradually became uniform and finally without any deviation, Li Younan knew it was done, and he exhaled slightly.

Nearby, Lian Feng hurriedly asked, "Is it ready now? Is the next step quenching?"

Li Younan gave him a subtle glance but didn’t immediately proceed with quenching.

Honestly, those experts from the Sword Forging Competition often use quenching oil for quenching; failing that, engine oil can be used.

Water quenching is not easy to control.

So, the next step is the most challenging of the entire process.

Li Younan did not proceed directly with quenching but placed the knife on a steel plate for residual heat conduction. He then placed the back of his hand several centimeters above the knife, slightly closed his eyes, patiently waiting for the radiant heat to reach a critical point.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes, clamped the knife with pliers, and immersed the edge into water, with steam boiling. At this time, the blade remained exposed to air, followed by quickly rotating the blade with fire tongs, forming a swirling cooling zone on the knife edge.

This step was beyond the comprehension of the few young people present, but if there was a top sword forging master, they would have seen the mystery.

This step allows the edge to form an extremely fine martensitic structure, the very effect sought by quenching, while ensuring the blade does not immediately cool down, thereby significantly extending its toughness.

There are many methods to achieve a hard edge and a tough blade, such as China’s folding forging method or clay coating firing method could achieve similar effects, but directly forging this way... is extremely exaggerated.

Since this is merely the repair of a finished knife, without needing prior shaping forging procedures, the time consumed is not much.

After completing the quenching, a final step remains: refinement.

Li Younan asked, "Is there a whetstone?"

A whetstone is an essential item; indeed, even for the forging repair of this knife, one would expect to have a whetstone.