hmmm on 6"x2"x36" roman short sword style (how the heck to grind out)

Josh Muller

Josh Muller

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Jun 22, 2003
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i noticed on toolanddie.com that they sell flat stock in up to 6"x2"x36" peices.... total weight of 130lbs, 700$+.

now, ive wanted a 3/4" thick 20" long super saylan khukuri from hi since i heard they existed, and that would be reletively easy to make doing stock removal. but once i saw the size's carried at tool and die, i thought... huh.... 2" thick you say....


the only way i can think of making a sword that can use a full 2" thickness and 6" of broadness (breadth?) is a double edged style of blade ive seen before, but cant really find pics of now... kind of similar to this - http://www.casiberia.com/casiberia/cas_website/product_details.asp?id=SD4140

but much much broader, and id probably only have one large fuller.




the main question is, with a shop thats not really equiped all that great, how would you guys recomend even begining to look at this project? would it be better to just plasma cut out the handle considering how thick it is? is it plausable to hacksaw off that much material for a handle? (handle would be 2 1/2 handed).

would it be best to go at it with a hand sander, letting it lay flat on the table? or would it be more apropriate to start out with a hacksaw or plasma torch to cut off the main bevels...


how much distortion would you have to worry about with something so massively thick when heat treating? specifically in relations to how much finishing work you could do on it before sending it in (i cant do it on my own, no oven equipment, and i dont think a torch would cut it)




is this project idea absolutely rediclous? absolutely. would it be usable? probably not. does that keep me from wanting one? heck no!

just the idea of being able to smash a door open in one fell swoop, to be able to crush a tree branch in half without using any muscles... something about having an actual guts sword is highly appealing. i dont know how a 40lbs sword would react in actual use, but im definitely curious.

it would be an expensive project, so it may never come to pass on finance reasons alone, but its something im definitely interested in doing. i will definitely be making my 3/4" khukuri, but this one hits the kid at heart a little harder...

just wondering about your opinions :)
 
dsc01916small.jpg

(42" gelbu special style blade, 1/2" thick consistantly, around 8lbs)


5' 10 1/2", 135lbs, aka - big enough to know that i shouldn't be trying to heft a 40lbs+ all weight forward sword :rolleyes:


set your legs and spine up correctly, and the body can do amazing things... not gonna be using it to trim hedges, just to bash a few things now and again - remind myself what its like to be alive :D
 
ABSOLUTELY INSANE! And I want that blade in the pic.....

Go for it if you can find the funds to do it. I would be interested in seeing what you come up with.

I doubt seriously you want to try to hacksaw that much material by hand. You would be years in the making.

Doc
 
Well, you'd be starting with about 128 pounds too much material. What do you propose grinding it with? For a gladius, you can start with a 1/4 x 1 3/4 x 36 bar, and work that down. It will run you about $25 shipped from TKS, and you'll get it done a few years faster than that other thing...

Darryl
 
Well, I think 2" is a little thick for a 6" wide sword; the bevels would be too steep to cut much. And 6" a bit too wide for a 36" long blade... All that being said this sounds like fun. :D Nice thing about Tool and Die, you can get your steel in the dimensions you want.

For this massive a "blade" I'd think seriously about having a machine shop cut out the profile somehow. Then get a huge angle grinder with about a 10 grit plate on it and get to work! Five years later you should have something approximately the shape you're thinking of. :)

That is some kinda khukuri you got there! I don't think I'd be able to let that one get by me either. Zowie! Looks like it's about to take off your foot though.

I don't know what it is about big blades but it's something many of us must have thought about. The Randall shop made a couple of huge bowies back when too. I've had the same fantasy. I say go for it! But consider thinner stock. Like miniatures, the big blades should have correct proportions too, in my little opinion.

You just gotta love dreaming about knives to make...
 
Did you say a "Guts" sword? Sweet, someone else who's seen Berserk :cool: . To really make it like a Guts sword, you want a really deep nearly full width fuller in it. That would make it more like the one you're copying and almost realistic to swing a couple times with all the material you'd remove.
 
the one probelm with trying to copy the guts sword is that that thing is something like 9 feet long, wich would be very difficult to obtain for stock removal... youd pretty much have to to iether foundry pour it, or go through the absolutely insane process of trying to forge weld 4 or 5 sets of semi trunk springs together, both of wich i wouldnt hazve the equipment or manpower to accomplish...

a mini guts sword on the other hand is kind of possible :D

a more realistic set of measurements would be 1"x4"x36", but i think if i was goinng to do it id go all out :D

note: in berserk the guts sword wasnt really used for cutting, more as a bashing weapon that could to some extent cut an aponent in half, in the same way that a chisel can cut metal in half.

it might be possibpe to gerry rig a belt sander up on a weight system so i could set it up to start grinding the bevels without me having to do anything with it, be able to do other things in the shop...

a good oxy cutting torch might be aplicable... i have been told that you can get cuts that are accurate though as much as 7'+ of steel
 
I got a 5' piece of grader blade. You buy a 4-1/2" b&d grinder and...

YOU CAN HAVE THE STEEL FOR SHIPPING COSTS

I love the pic by the way :D :D :D
 
I gotta agree with Dave 2" thick is overkill (I know thats what your going for ;) ) I think it will make it more of a club than a sword.
Just for reference. I've got a moster maul for splitting wood and the head is a triangle about 3" wide and 6" long. It does not cut things, it smashes them. If you make a 2" thick sword,a double edge is going to make a 3" bevel, you've darn near got a square blade! Single edge with a full flat grind or hollow grind would be better but I still think its going to be awful thick. Going to be a lot of expensive steel going into dust too! Any chance you could forge it? :eek:
 
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