Construction of Rapier Grips

[Jesse WW]

Hello,

First of all, i hope i am posting this in the right section of the forum - so i do apologize if it is not.

I'm interested in learning some of the theory behind how the older style (renaissance)rapier grips were constructed; primarily how the sweeping guards were so intricately welded together (forge welded?) and what techniques were used to wrap the handles.

I understand the handles were wrapped using either wire or chain, but I'm looking for a little more information than that, but am coming up short when searching. Something i have not been able to work out for myself is how the chain/wire was wrapped to conform to the twisting of the wood underneath. Another thing i am curious about is how the wire was braided and applied to either ends of the grip.

I have seen a lot of specialized answers from people on this forum which is why i am reaching out. I'd be very grateful for any information that could be provided. PDF's or any other reading material to be suggested regarding construction would be absolutely great too.

Thanks

Jesse

 

[kuraki]

The wire is twisted together to form the "braiding." Sometimes just 2 strands together, sometimes 2 strands twisted, then 2 of those twisted together (4 strands total).

To get the pattern of the wrap, the wood under the handle is first carved, and then the wire is hammered to conform to the carving after it's wrapped. There are a few tutorials out there. Unfortunately most that I would link to have been nuked by Photobucket.

There are many youtube videos as well. It's not overly complicated in theory. The difficulty is in execution, which takes practice.

You need:
Suitable wire, 26 ga or approximate thickness, soft
A drill and spindle for twisting the wire
A wrapping fixture or jig is helpful but not necessary
A soft faced mallet or leather pad to buck the wire to conform to the handle
Files or whatever you intend to carve the wood with, this is similar to fluting and laid out in a similar manner, again a jig is very helpful.
Ferrules or fittings of a design that will cover the first and last wrap of the wire where it's inserted into holes in the wood handle, to hide the start/stop and retain the wire.

 

[Salem Straub]

Kuraki has a lot of it, there. But the wire is really pushed, rather than hammered, to conform into the spiral flutes, using a wedge-ended tool made from hard wood or micarta.
I lay the flutes out with string, starting tacked out to a quarter mark on one end of the grip core, and then wrapping it up however many full turns plus quarter turns I want, ending at the other end of the grip at a quarter mark, and then tacking that down. Then trace string with pencil to mark the wood core. Repeat with same string or additional strings, usually I do four flutes and I think at least 1 and a half full turns looks good. The rapier above has more than that though.

The ends there are covered with twisted wire turks head knots, which are a major pain to tie. All I can say is practice tying them in cord first, until you have that down pat, and then twist up some wire and try that, it's a whole different beast but at least you won't be trying to figure out the basic knot while struggling with the wire.

As far as fabricating the hilt bars, you should really go look around at bladesmith's forum dot com, that's the place for sword work. There's a recent WIP thread of making just such a manieristic rapier hilt in the "show and tell" forum somewhere on the first three pages.

Here's a couple that I've done. The wire is a bit coarser than the rapier you've shown, it's 26 gauge annealed steel/iron wire.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Many of the ornate guards are cast and then finished. Others are forge welded by masters who knew what they were doing. There were people who did nothing but make fittings.

To add to kurakai's answer. The wire is annealed dead soft. With the working of wrapping and hammering to fit the handle shape, it work hardens, and holds its shape well. The more the sword is used ( hands/gloves rubbing the wire), the more secure the wrap gets. I have seen these handles disassembled on old worn out words where the twist holds its shape without the core.

 

[KnuckleDownKnives]

There are some pdf's linked on Salem's deschain dagger thread as well. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/salem-straub-deschain-dagger.1446056/page-2#post-16986883

 

[Jesse WW]

Thankyou Kurakai your response is very much appreciated. I have seen many WIPs of grips being made using twisted wire, but never in the way where the wire is completely covering the handle and conforming to the indentations around the grip. Would some kind of adhesive or tacky substance have been used to help prevent the wire from twisting from heavy use? Or would that be a non-issue?

Again, thanks!

Edit: Thankyou to everybody else!

 

[Salem Straub]

No glue is used to hold the wire, except for perhaps a little super glue on the very ends. The wire conforms and stays that way since it's malleable, and I think even locks into the surface of the wood in a slight way. You have to use wood that's dead dry, if it shrinks under the wire that sucks.

 

[kuraki]

Salem Straub thanks I was hoping you'd chime in. I was going to link the thread on that dagger but for photobucket.

I guess it was a video I'd seen about hammering the wire but I tried that myself and it didn't work very well. Actually that's why I hadn't tried again yet so I'm glad for the wedge forming tip.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Hammering is a relative word. It is more of a gentle tapping.
A wooden, rawhide, or rubber mallet is good. All you want to do is force the wire down in the groves. Hammering hard will stretch the wire and all hell will break loose.

 

[JTknives]

I have been wanting to try this as well. I was wondering if when you push the wire down into the flutes does it try and pull the wire from the flute you just did. I would guess the act of forming the wire to the flutes tightens up the wrap a little.

 

[kuraki]

Hammering is a relative word. It is more of a gentle tapping.
A wooden, rawhide, or rubber mallet is good. All you want to do is force the wire down in the groves. Hammering hard will stretch the wire and all hell will break loose.

My problem was getting it to take any form at all. However I believe that had more to do with the wire's condition than anything else, with a little of the hammer not conforming to the faces to put pressure in the right spot like the wedge would do.

 

[Salem Straub]

I have been wanting to try this as well. I was wondering if when you push the wire down into the flutes does it try and pull the wire from the flute you just did. I would guess the act of forming the wire to the flutes tightens up the wrap a little.

I tend to work one side then the opposite side, push the wire in a bit, work the opposite side, then the next two sides... bit by bit until I'm really pushing the wire hard on the last pass around the grip. I've not had it act like you wondered about, but I've certainly thought that it might, and taken precautions against it.