goose quill saber, short sword, pweld

[kevin -the professor]

Hello Everyone,
this is an attempt at a traditional Chinese blade shape.

16.5" working length
1.125" wide at forte swelling to 1.25" just before start of curve
.25" thick, with full convex grind. Traditional shape, with a good bit of meat to the blade. There is a convex curve from the fuller to the spine as well as from the fuller to the cutting edge.

hope you like it. I am hoping to collaborate with someone for the handle and fittings. I can't do justice to traditional fittings.

blade is 1080 and 15n20, with a serious amount of contrast (which really shows with white in the background rather than the pool felt).

comments welcomed.

Kevin

 

[Dan Pierson]

That blade looks great. How's the balance?

 

[kevin -the professor]

Dan - it has a balance that is pretty far forward. I actually have the blade swelling in width from spine to edge about an eighth of an inch as the blade approaches the beginning of the curve. The guard will be a large piece of copper or brass and will be heavy, so it will pull the balance back some, and the pommel cap will be fairly heavy but not like the pommel on western swords. I made the balance this way to give a little more chopping power since it is short. This way, it will cut as close as possible to performance of longer blade but still be fairly easy to maneuver.

Next one I make like this, I need to put a little less curve in the tip. I am going to try a full-sized one, next. I have actually been looking for as much info as I can get about how the traditional ones were balanced. On the next one, if it is 27", the pob should be around 5" in front of guard. But, that is when the blade is fitted with heavy guard, so it would be 6 or 7 before.

kc

 

[David Stifle]

Kevin,

Boy, that's a beauty! Can't wait to see it finished. But, why is it called a goose quill saber. Doesn't look like a goose quill to me

Dave

 

[kevin -the professor]

Dave - this one has a more overall curve than it should, but I am learning. Goose quill sabers are supposed to be straight until the center of percussion, and then slightly curved. They allow for the use of straight sword techniques and curved sword techniques. The last few inches of the back edge is somewhat sharp.

These are contrasted to willow leaf sabers, which are supposed to be curved throughout their length.

This one is too curved, but...

thanks for looking.
kc