In progress... First double edge composite sword coming together

ScottRoush

ScottRoush

Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Messages
1,818
Well I finally got a 5 bar composite to stick together. I shouldn't get too excited until it survives the quench.. but I'm happy so far. It has a central core composted of 2 bars of opposing twist 15n20/1084 divided my straight laminate of 1095/1045 ground for a modest serpentine shape. The edge bars are refined shear steel I made from some nice, clean wrought iron given to me by Karl Andersen. Right now the billet is gigantor at 28" long and 5/8" thick! So I will most likely get another blade from this.

The hilt components will be cast bronze with pewter inlaid plaques displaying small 'gripping beasts'. This type H hilt has a two part pommel. They weren't typically cast bronze... but I'm following my heart rather than history here. Although the inlaid plaque motif does come from a known Norwegian sword. The grip will either be Walrus jawbone or a combination of ivory and black oak. Haven't made that decision yet.

IMG_1948.jpg


IMG_1953.jpg


Making the shear steel for the edge bars. The wrought iron plates are placed in a can with a commerical 'pack carburizing' powder and soaked at welding heat for 2.5 hours. The result is some medium to high carbon steel.

IMG_2117.jpg


The wrought iron nail is a 'test strip' which can be pulled out and spark tested for carbon content.

IMG_2118.jpg


IMG_2121.jpg


IMG_2125.jpg


IMG_2137.jpg


A test etch after welding. Still lots of forging and grinding:

IMG_2134.jpg


Sand casting the hilt components in bronze. The molds were made from plastic fittings that I had 3D printed. This was done in collaboration with 3D designer David Wood from Shapeways. Awesome technology!

IMG_2089.jpg


IMG_2086.jpg


IMG_2103.jpg


IMG_2091.jpg


I will update this tomorrow after I've forged and ground that billet down.

Also.. My customer has graciously agreed to allow me to take this to Blade Show before delivery.. so please stop by and take a look.
 
Man, that is looking good Scott! Can't wait to see more.

On a side note, did you ever finish rebuilding your HT oven? I still have that waki I need to HT.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Matt...

You just reminded me that I haven't gotten a response from the folks that originally gave me the quote for my elements. But I need to nail that down as this sword will be ready for heat treat in a week or so.... I can use a set of old elements if I can't get the new ones in that time frame. But the old ones could burn out at any time.
 
That looks incredible, Scott! It's really cool to see Old World craftsmanship blended with modern technology (3D printing)!. :thumbup:
 
Wow Scott.. Some incredible things going on there. Your bronze casting looks fantastic and using a 3D printer.. very interesting.

Your growth is exponential piece to piece it seems.
 
This is really cool Scott. There is A LOT going on here. I can't wait to see the final product. I feel a bit connected with your shop as we both have one of Sam's hammers at our anvils. More pics please!
 
Scott,

Looking good on that weldment. Any pics of the process?

The bronze and pewter hilt is beautiful. This looks like a fantastic piece in the making.

Can't wait to see it at Blade!

John
 
Thanks guys...

John I didn't get any. Welding these things up is so damned stressful for me right now. But..... I've got a fellow who is going to shoot a short documentary of the next one.

But the tip was welded with the 'fish mouth' method. I forged the tip of the core first and then I used two shear steel bars that had the tips forged to the shape of the core tip. I then set the welds just in front of the tip and then went back and closed the 'fish mouth' at an insanely high heat. This method was greatly facilitated by the easy 'weld-ability' of the shear steel. I like this method in that if the forge welding failed.. then I could just go back afterwards and open it back up with a thin cut-off wheel. The pattern in the shear steel is so random you would never notice it if the weld is good.

This is a picture of a billet done by Jeff Helmes employing a similar process:
483435_537884899557525_201126155_n.jpg
 
That is looking great Scott. Those fittings are awesome. I only used delft clay to cast small silver parts and did not think it could be used for larger bronze castings. I like your homemade mold.
Looking forward to more, thanks for sharing. :thumbup:
 
Thanks again guys...

Patrice... I wouldn't recommend using your Delft for this. The bigger pourings burn it up and it's pretty expensive. And maybe I don't know what I'm doing.. but I'm getting crap for detail. I'm switching to actual investment plaster for future castings....
 
Yeah, that would make a nice landsknecht sword. ;)

Thanks for the heads up on the delftclay. I find that it needs to be really well packed to get good definition usually involving hammering it down for a few minutes.
 
I do that Patrice... and it works fine for small things. But big things... not so well. But good investment should solve it. Casting is in my future. :-)

Well... I cut her down after checking for flaws to a 30" blade. I forged out a stub tang and then forge welded on a nice thick piece of left over W2 for the tang. I now have enough left for a 20" blade.. what to do with it...? Something cool for Blade that's what.

59779_521864394521653_1219742563_n.jpg
 
Very cool Scott this is one to watch I think we will all be watching keep up the good work.
 
Thanks David...

Well.. I have a sword blade. It survived the quench and the first two temper cycles. I corrected a large warp in the second cycle but still have one more little kink 8" from the tip (that one was from touching the bottom of my tube when quenching :mad:). Will correct that tomorrow. I just got an awesome piece of ancient walrus jawbone from Mark Knapp.. so this project is now on the downhill run. At this point the blade is a full 30" in length, 2" wide at the tang junction and weighs 2 and a half pounds. Since I have to put in more distal taper and clean up grinding to do.. I'm hoping for a 2 pound blade.

644699_522808914427201_414540334_n.jpg


602022_522808904427202_74692632_n.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top