First Sword - Vigilante Handle Complete

EScott · Nov 13, 2015

I started the following sword in a Sam Salvati class last week and still need to finish the handle. It has a shaped wooden handle underneath the temporary wrap. I plan to add grooves to the wooden handle, wrap it in leather and secure the leather with twisted wire. I want to finish it with a Turk's head knot at each end, but I'm having trouble finding a good resource for this step. I emailed a company to buy their book, but they haven't responded and most of the demos online are hard to follow. Does anyone have a good resource for this?

More pictures are available at http://www.guineahogforge.blogspot.com/2015/11/vigilante-old-world-sword-new-world.html

Any help with the Turk's head knot would be greatly appreciated.

mete · Nov 13, 2015

Handling wire and handling rope is very different ! You need more patience for wire and it might be better to anneal the wire.

David Stifle · Nov 13, 2015

That would be so cool! There are a lot of info online, other than that, I can't help. I imagine it will take a lot of time to find the right wire, decide if you want to flatten it or go with round strands, etc. One thing that pops into my mind is you could try doing it with silver solder wire. It comes in various thickness, it's flexible, looks good and doesn't tarnish.

Storm Crow · Nov 13, 2015

I learned from this animation: http://www.ropeworks.biz/archive/Aturkhed.html

You might hit up Kevin Cashen. I've seen some beautifully-done wire Turk's head knots on his work.

horseclover · Nov 13, 2015

There is this thread from elsewhere.
http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=22435

Cheers

GC

Nice sword!!

EScott · Nov 14, 2015

Thanks for the help guys.

EScott · Nov 21, 2015

I will begin work on the permanent handle today and hope to have pictures of it posted by the first of the week. Our neighbor was giving away pumpkins today though, so we decided to have a little fun first.

[video=youtube;KMrBsfMvJ64]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMrBsfMvJ64[/video]

More soon.

horseclover · Nov 21, 2015

There is something satisfying in slaying pumpkins. Easy to cut while offering good alignment feedback.

Great looking sword. If you want to do wire twixt the turks, you can get a herringbone effect with two alternating twisted pairs. Lots of possibilities.

Cheers

GC

EScott · Nov 25, 2015

Turk's head did not work out - definitely not with stainless steel wire and a fixed pommel - and I'm glad it didn't because we went with a full wire wrap and I really like the results. See what you think.

Thanks for the input.

horseclover · Nov 25, 2015

Nice!

zzyzzogeton · Nov 25, 2015

Very nice work, Scott. How did you anchor the bitter end of the wire?

EScott · Nov 25, 2015

Thanks guys.

Very nice work, Scott. How did you anchor the bitter end of the wire?

It is mechanically locked through the wooden handle at the pommel.

crimsonfalcon07 · Nov 26, 2015

I like it a lot (both ways, with the dark blade and leather, and with the wire wrap).

kaotikross · Nov 26, 2015

Lovely Job, Sir. :thumbup:

Bob Leedy · Nov 26, 2015

The wrap came out great. Very impressive work on the entire project. By the way, fine photo of you(?) as the grim reaper or his buddy.

EScott · Nov 27, 2015

Thanks everyone. My wife is the photographer, so she gets kudos on the "Grim Reaper" shot