A very swordy weekend

Sam Salvati

Sam Salvati

Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
5,060
Here is some shots from this weekend.

Pommel heating up to be drifted
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My favorite shot, the pommel sort of soaking away in the heat, I turned the flame off and the forge started to cool but the pommel stayed hotter, it was very neat
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Guard heating up
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Forging the guard from 1 inch wide 3/8ths thick
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Guard starting to be cleaned up a bit
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Pommel all cleaned up and mocked up to the tang (not peened yet of course)
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blank cut out from the bandsaw
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I hoped to get the blade all finished in one weekend, from cutout blank to finished sword but alas, I would have had to make some compromises that would not have been possible without effecting it negatively performance wise. I need a tempering tank, which I will have made this week. This sword will be done next weekend.

Stats for the blade are, 4' overall, 3' blade and the tang is less than a foot, due to some ricasso and stuff, 3/16ths thick, diamond cross section.
 
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LOL...love the new tagline. Nice looking sword! Look forward to seeing her all finished up!
 
Well OK maybe a few more, here is a shot of the polished pommel and guard :D.

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Hi,
question..... is the peening of the pommel and guard done to tighten the fit around the blade after the initial fitting? (last 2 pics) Or am I way off here?
Thanks

Ken
 
Ken, ideally the fit of the guard should be tight enough so that the peening around the slot is not necessary, but this one fit not as tight as I would have liked so I peened it to get a SUPER tight fit. There will be a brass spacer between the guard and shoulders so you will not see the peening. The pommel is peened over just to keep it on tight. I will fit the guard and spacer, then peen the pommel over, then shape the wood to fit. It will be in two slabs, glued to the tang then I will wrap with cord over that.
 
Heat treated the sword today, everything went GREAT! The setup I utilized was......creative to say the least (there's pictures). The blade got HARD, nice and even all over too. As usual, the park's worked it's magic perfectly and the sound was incredible! here are the pictures :D.

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I drew the blade vertically in and out of the forge, then up and into the quench tank. You can also see my separate tempering tank. it actually worked out pretty good, even though I had to stand on a chair :) .
 
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It is the NC tool knifemaker's forge, it is 13 1/2 inches long. When I got it it only had one door with a port, so unless you opened the end door you could not work anything over 13 inches. I special ordered a second door with a port, so i could keep both doors and retain the most heat, which turned it into a swordmaker's forge.
 
Very nice Sam. Could you explain how your tempering tank works? How do you keep it at a constant temp for 1hr +?

Thanks, Eric
 
Hi Sam,
Looking GOOD.
I bought some tubing and mounting plates for the quench and temper tank. Maybe in a year I might have it all set up.
Thanks.
 
efleming said:
Very nice Sam. Could you explain how your tempering tank works? How do you keep it at a constant temp for 1hr +?

Thanks, Eric
Click to expand...

Eric, I use a weed burner torch, it has a pressure control knob which beleive it or not gives an amazing amount of control. It is kind of crappy so it takes a bit to get up to tmeperature, but once it is there it holds the temp within 5F degrees. You set the pressure to what you think is right, then you can move the torch flame closer or farther away for finer control.

Dave, just weld a piece of plate to the end of some tubing, nothing special nothing crazy :D .

Thanks guys!
 
Here is some stats

46 3/4" overall
35 1/4 " blade
1 1/2 " wide blade
9 5/8" long handle
Steel is 1077 from Aldo, this stuff is PHENOMINAL, you better pray it is straight right after or before HT or you will NEVER get it so once hardened and tempered. It is amazingly resilient.
POB is 5 " out from the most forward part of the grip

I have to weight it at work, but I think it is only around 3 pounds.
 
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