Roman Gladius build

D.Crawford

D.Crawford

Joined
Jan 15, 2008
Messages
650
Here's a few pics of a sword build I'm finishing up. A friend & neighbor was interested in having his Albion blade (5160 steel) made
into a finished sword so... I constructed a guard from 1095 steel and a great piece of dark black ebony.
The handle is stabilized black & white ebony and the pommel is five layers of 1095 steel and is peened together with 8 pins.
All of the steel was heat treated and heat blued for a nice, battle-worn patina. Just needs a peen block and peening to be complete.
The steel adds just enough weight to make this feel really substantial in the hand. The balance point is ~ 1" off the front of the guard.

Gerry at Exotic Woods USA was great about finding me with some really nice ebony at a really good price so check him out
if you're in the market for hardwoods www.exoticwoodsusa.com Thanks Gerry.

This is my first sword project so I welcome your comments. Thanks for looking.





 
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I might have sanded out the mill marks; just my opinion. Overall it does look nice and serviceable though.

Did you sharpen it and do the heat treat yourself? I know you can get them from Albion heat treated. I have their riding sword blade I need to hilt up.

Are you worried about the handle cracking when you hammer the peen in place?
 
gregorio said:
I might have sanded out the mill marks; just my opinion. Overall it does look nice and serviceable though.

Did you sharpen it and do the heat treat yourself? I know you can get them from Albion heat treated. I have their riding sword blade I need to hilt up.

Are you worried about the handle cracking when you hammer the peen in place?
Click to expand...

Hi Gregorio. I certainly understand your point. I was prepared to hand finish the blade but after etching the blade with FC acid and sanding w/ 1500 grit, it gave a nice "french engraved" sort of look that the customer and I both really liked. The blade came HT'd (Albion used HT salts). I did re-temper the tang for my own peace of mind and annealed it on the end. The tang has shoulders that taper down inside the pommel. I taper fit the inside of the pommel so that the shoulders on the tang will absorb all of the peening blows. Not sharpened yet - I asked him to spend some time getting used to it first before we sharpen.

My only complaint with the blade would have been a few places where the mill dug a little deeper and created gouges that would have been a pain to remove if we'd gone with a finer finish. Anyone buying a blade from Albion might want to mention that when ordering from them.

Thanks for your comments.
 
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I like the filework a lot too. Simple, yet accentuates the curves nicely, and very aesthetically pleasing placement, IMO. Nice work! I also like the milling marks. Gives it a good character.
 
Interesting. It looks more Xiphosish now than a Gladius like and being a purist I of course would have liked a mainz style blade to become a mainz gladius. Of course that's been done to death and it's not my blade, if your customer is happy that's great, and it does look like good work.
 
EdgyGator said:
I like the milling marks. Makes it look like something a legionaire would have actually used.
Click to expand...

Me too...I like the stuff that looks like someone would have actually USED it in battle not the super fancy bright shiny "show" stuff. I love it to be honest!
 
Thanks guys. The customer and I both agreed that it needed to look "battle-tested" & something with a story behind it.
 
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Fantastic work! I have a number of friends in the SCA doing Roman persona's that would die to have this! I agree with the customer's desire to have an aged look to the piece as these shiny "wall hanger" pieces don't always impress in a re-enactment setting.

Thanks for sharing!
 
I really like it!

Alot of original swords show file marks across the blade and fittings alot like the mill marks on the blade, so it suits.

The sword looks very individual, it has a certain style which is unique that I really like about it.

Great work!
 
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