Pattern Welded Sword WIP

[Phillip Patton]

When the glue is dry (at least an hour) I use a modified Sawzall blade to remove the glue squeeze-out from inside the slot:

and to make sure it slides all the way up the tang:

Then the handle is cut to the profile I settled on and ground to it's (probably) final thickness:

and the corners are rounded off. I still have to shape the small end of the grip, but I can't do that quite yet.

Now I cut out a piece of the thinnest veg tan leather I have. I'm not sure this is going to work, so I may end up using some other stuff I have that's more flexible:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Next up is heat treating the fittings, but first I have to taper the hole at the end of the pommel, so when I peen the end of the tang over, it won't just pull through:

The three pieces ready to be coated with anti-scale compound:

Coated, and all put on a wire. Using tongs to quench parts like this can be tricky, so I just use wire, and dunk them all at once.

Quenched:

 

[Senserazer]

Ooooh am I looking forward to seeing this finished!

 

[Phil Dwyer]

Wow, what a project. Your craftsmanship is superb! You may have stated it elsewhere, but If I may ask, what is the rationale behind heat treating the hardware?

 

[Robert.B]

Wow, what a project. Your craftsmanship is superb! You may have stated it elsewhere, but If I may ask, what is the rationale behind heat treating the hardware?

In western martial arts the blade isn't the only offensive on a sword, you use the hilt and pommel to strike your opponent if needs be...plus i'm guessing it'd wear better over time.

 

[rane-dig]

beautiful work. Thanks for taking the time to document this.

 

[jsrice]

Beautiful work

 

[Don Hanson III]

Nice Work, Phillip!!!

 

[D lisch]

Phillip thank you for taking the time to do this very cool WIP.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Wow, what a project. Your craftsmanship is superb! You may have stated it elsewhere, but If I may ask, what is the rationale behind heat treating the hardware?

Thank you, sir!

Well, I mainly do it because hardened (and tempered) damascus etches much nicer than soft. Better constrast.
Also, like Robert mentioned, it will wear better, and do more damage to your opponents weapon, if you can get his blade to make contact with it. Though, historically, I don't think they used heat treated fittings.

Okay, movin' right along. Here are the fittings after tempering. I tempered at 500 F for 2 hours, and they are still 58 RC.

The guard just before etching:

To polish the rounded parts of the pommel, I used a narrow 400 grit slack belt:

The pieces after etching, then buffing:

After etching and buffing a couple more times:

Assembling the hilt just to see it:

 

[Phillip Patton]

First I put some strips of leather lace around the grip in the middle and at the ends:

The cleaned off the excess glue (super glue) to make sure the wood glue will stick:

The piece of leather. I think it's ostrich skin.

Then the grip is coated with Titebond Original, and the leather is pressed on:

The seam is hard to see, so I'm happy.


Now the grip is wrapped with rubber bands to mold the leather to the lacing underneath:

 

[Phillip Patton]

While the grip was drying, I assembled the pommel/guard. I used bronze pins (annealed so they would peen well) and used them as rivets:

And here's the grip with the extra leather trimmed off the ends:

Now the sword is mounted in a vise:

and the end of the tang is heated nice and hot with the torch, then hammered on to expand it into the hole in the pommel:

And here's where I discovered a problem. The pommel was a bit too tight on the tang, so it wouldn't slide down far enough to butt against the grip, drawing everything tight. So the guard and grip rattled a bit. Aargh! So I flowed some super glue into the gap where the fuller goes under the guard, and now everything is nice and solid....

I'll take some better pictures when I have some nice outdoor lighting.

Now, I have to make the scabbard. Might not get to it for a few days.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Oh, and here's some of the specs:

The blade turned out a bit longer than I intended. It's 30-3/4" from tip to guard. From guard to pommel is 5-3/8".

The whole thing weighs 23.7 ounces. It balances about 6" from the guard.

 

[issues]

Outstanding!

A true piece of art!!!

 

[Phillip Patton]

I found some shade outside, so I thought I'd shoot some more pictures:

And here's a high res version of the first shot:

http://www.pattonblades.com/high_res_sword.jpg

 

[MT Damascus]

Great craftsmanship Phillip, it looks really cool



Kris

 

[John White]

Phillip,

That's too,too much. What a trip!

That's such a beauty.

BTW, what thicknesses did you choose on the blade?

John

 

[Senserazer]

Holy mother of God that is a beautiful blade! I would bring that to war any day!

 

[peterinct]

WOW!!! That is EXCEPTIONALLY nice Phillip. The blade looks incredible and the flexibility is IMPRESSIVE.

GREAT thread. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

Peter

 

[Big Rick]

Outstanding work, Phillip you are a true craftsman. It's been a real pleasure to see this one come together!!