![]() But if you have smaller crystalline regions in the metal that are misaligned with each other, the atoms can't slide past each other and lock up at the regions in between these small crystals, known as grain boundaries, preventing further deformation. ![]() When all the planes of atoms line up perfectly, it makes it easier for them to slide past each other when the metal is under stress, effectively allowing the metal to deform. In a perfect theoretical crystal, every single atom would line up perfectly with the next, however in this is not usually the case in most pieces of metal, and would actually make the metal weaker. Metals are crystalline meaning all the atoms are arranged and spaced in a predictable ordered array. Some of the answers here are close but none are completely correct. A skilled bladesmith can hammer out a knife for the fraction of the cost of casting it. Because casting steel is hugely expensive to do right. Steel anvils started to be cast around the turn of the century but all the way up to the 60s it still wasn't uncommon to see anvils with welded on steel faces and a body of something else, more easily cast. Which is better to say than say something that simply isn't true. This is not an eli5 answer, but the honest and right answer isn't something that can be done in an eli5 fashion because it's a combination of several factors. This has to be done because said stresses will ruin the blade during heat treatment - which is the actual thing that affects the blades hardness and is a very complicated process to get right. It introduces stresses the smith has to actively spend effort to get rid of by normalizing. Hammering the blade doesn't help it in any way. OP has a simplified and incomplete idea of what casting entails. ![]() Melting carbon steel also messes with carbon content and that would have to be corrected for as well, which is added cost pf fuel and complexity. Blades were cast in the bronze age because bronze is faster, cheaper and more reliable to cast than forge. Steel melts at a much higher temperature than you'd practically achieve (it's why cast iron was traditionally used for casting, the high carbon content allows it to melt at a slightly lower temperature, and at 1300c+ a little bit means a lot. It's faster, cheaper and more reliable to forge a blade than cast it. This isn't the case at all and is incredibly misleading.
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