Little karabela project

J W Bensinger

J W Bensinger

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Mar 26, 2009
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Hadn't done a monosteel sword for a while, and got some inspiration from a video of Cossack reenactors doing some saber play, so took some 1x1/4" 1075 and fired up the forge

Spent a day getting it ground, hardened and tempered, and a rough quillon block done.

The hiltwork went off the rails a tiny bit-I did some things out of sequence (I know better now...) and used gavrolite for the scales (mimics horn nicely, doesn't inlet well)...and I should've done all the quillon assembly/langet fitting before I welded the pommel section up (I believe rivets are traditional, but slightly wiggly pommels are too :) )

It's a 28" blade, 1/4 to 1/8" distal taper (which I may thin out a bit), with cut fullers. POB is about 7" infront of the guard, POP IS 5" from the point (which is new to me). 1 pound 11ounces.
I think it'll end up a munition grade rig-there are some parts of the hilt that are a little fugly, because of the out of sequence fabrication-but it was a lot of fun.
Sorry for the lousy pics.
Cheers
J
 
Looking good!

The fullers will reduce weight further. A lot of period blade start thicker than that at the hilt and reduce by half in thickness by the center og gravity. In a more linear fashion to the fuller's end, then down to 1mm or so at the point.

Many eastern European sabres also have a backedge or pronounced yelman at the point.

Cheers

GC
 
Did the cossack reenactors have that Shamshir-like crossuard on their blades (because a Shaska does not)?

Asking, not disputing.
 
It's 4" from guard to the hook, give or take.
horseclover said:
Looking good!

The fullers will reduce weight further. A lot of period blade start thicker than that at the hilt and reduce by half in thickness by the center og gravity. In a more linear fashion to the fuller's end, then down to 1mm or so at the point.

Many eastern European sabres also have a backedge or pronounced yelman at the point.

Cheers

GC
Click to expand...
I thought about a backedge-the first sword I ever made back in the 90's (and a horrifically poor choice for a first sword it was :p ) was this kilij-

It goes from 5/16 (ish) down to less than a sixteenth at the tip, pretty much an even taper.
I thought about cutting a second fuller-part of the justification for the karabela was to try out an adjustable fullering cutter I put together to test-only problem is that the cutters I have right now are barely 1/4".
Thanks for the input-I hoped you'd chime in.
 
Yes-I'll try to find the video. I saw it on facebook and that does not link well
Edit: video found:[video=youtube_share;S2witzaDnjs]http://youtu.be/S2witzaDnjs[/video]
Btw at 2:26 check out the cuts the guy working on the pell is doing. The left to right high "backhand" cut would be me being dead, previous to seeing this video. I dunno how hard you could land it but in an unarmored fight I think it'd work just fine...
 
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My ancestors were Cossacks who emigrated to (invaded?) Alaska, and it is always nice to see Eastern blades represented. Nice work!
 
Nice, did you forge in the fullers? Those Cossack reenactors are as crazy with the swordplay as the Shaolin monks!
 
Mecha said:
Nice, did you forge in the fullers? Those Cossack reenactors are as crazy with the swordplay as the Shaolin monks!
Click to expand...

I cut my fullers cold these days-kind of a drawknife/scraper apparatus I made. I'm going to make another spring fuller for forging but they end up cleaner (and easier to clean up) when I cut 'em
 
Oh yeah that's looking real nice!
 
One thing I've discovered in swinging this around: although the pommel shape on this one is period, the next one I do gets a kilij-style bulbous pommel. Lotta work keeping it from creeping out of your grip.
 
Great pics - great sword.

Does the blade get slightly more point heavy towards the tip - or is that a trick of the light/photos and/or the fuller ending a few sensible inches before the tip?
(Im into the 1796 light cavalry sabre and a heavy point can be quite devastating )

This thread gets better and better.

Now go chop something!! :D

Look forward to more pics of this beauty.
 
BladeScout said:
Great pics - great sword.

Does the blade get slightly more point heavy towards the tip - or is that a trick of the light/photos and/or the fuller ending a few sensible inches before the tip?
(Im into the 1796 light cavalry sabre and a heavy point can be quite devastating )

This thread gets better and better.

Now go chop something!! :D

Look forward to more pics of this beauty.
Click to expand...
It's not heavier at the tip-it distals from 1/4" to a little under 1/8" at the end of the fuller. It might be 1/8" wider at the POP, maybe a little less.
Cut some junk saplings that were encroaching on the driveway-thing sings.
 
BladeScout said:
(Im into the 1796 light cavalry sabre and a heavy point can be quite devastating )
Click to expand...

The 1796 LC sword doesn't have a heavy point. It has a wide but very thin point (usually under 2mm). It's like a thin kitchen knife with a 30" handle (part of which is sharp).

Most swords that widen at the tip have very thin tips (originals, anyway - replicas are a different story). Seen in profile, the width suggests extra weight, but the cross-section says otherwise.
 
Timo Nieminen said:
The 1796 LC sword doesn't have a heavy point. It has a wide but very thin point (usually under 2mm). It's like a thin kitchen knife with a 30" handle (part of which is sharp).

Most swords that widen at the tip have very thin tips (originals, anyway - replicas are a different story). Seen in profile, the width suggests extra weight, but the cross-section says otherwise.
Click to expand...

The big Kilij I made goes from 5/16" to maybe 1/16" at the yelman and it's a scary cutter. I kinda like the karabela being a little stiffer at the tip-doesn't bounce as much on a tip cut-and the POP on the kilij is at the base of the yelman, and the karabela is 5" or so. Interesting to see the variations in the same basic shape.
 
Am I correct in assuming that when folks use "POP" and "POB" here that they are referring to what I learned back in Saber fencing as CoP, Center of Percussion and CoB, Center of Balance?
 
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