Sword #000002 Verteidiger (Scabbard Done)

ScottRoush

ScottRoush

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Jan 10, 2010
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Here is the next one. I came home from Arkansas all fired up and went and forged a sword. I learned from mistakes on the first one so I started it from bigger stock... 3" wide, 3/8" thick Aldo low MN 1075 and will be working from a pattern. I want to have plenty to work with in terms of grinding post heat treat. This will be the same Castillion bastard sword profile as the last one but will have a 1/2" more width at the guard, a couple more inches in length and less narrow tip. The customer wants more of a cutter.

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If you aren't familiar with my first sword you can see it here:

http://www.bigrockforge.com/blog/?p=372
 
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Another superlative job of forging....looking forward to this WIP. :cool:
 
Go get'em Scott!

Your sword was one of the most fun parts of the Arkansas show. I'm ready to see the next one.

WE WANT A SWORD WIP!

(Come on guys, gang up on Scott)

John
 
Alright, I always enjoy going for a ride with your WIP's Scott. I see by your serial number, that you've allowed for another 999,998 swords. Are you starting an army, if the sword is standard issue, sign me up!:D
 
Thanks John... And thanks for the encouragement at the show. That meant a lot.....

Alrighty... I will keep taking pictures. I may have to set the actual blade aside until next week... but I will probably start forging the fittings tomorrow. I would really like to step it up on this one in terms of sculpturing on the fittings... especially the pommel.

Just in case anybody is interested here is a museum specimen of a Castillion or 'Castellan' sword.... and is considered an Oakshotte Type VXa profile.

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And here is the type of pommel I will be shooting for:

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Here is another example from the 'Castillion Find'.. the archaeological collection that brought these swords to light. This one has the cross guard design that I like and that has been requested once again by the customer.

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More later!


Foxx... I was wondering if somebody would pick up on the hint that I really dig swords right now... :-)
 
Oh man!!! I am definitely going to be watching this one. Can't wait to see this unfold!!!
 
Okay I forged some fittings today. Forging big fittings from wrought iron is always a pain since it's usually in a form that isn't convenient. For example.. here is my pommel:

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Forging down big pieces of wrought like that with my press almost always leads to hot shorting and crumbling as the sides of the iron cool faster than the core resulting in splitting and cracking. So I just get it close and then grind the rest of the profile. I actually made two pieces from what you see in the last picture... one a bit more massive than the other. It's important to get the right counter balance for the proper handling of the sword.. so I may end up using one or the other depending on the weight I need.

The cross guard will be easier to manage since I can forge it from a 1/2" round bar of wrought. My client ended up deciding on an alternate guard style you can see....

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There is still a lot of shaping that needs to be done on those as well as milling the slot and drifting the tang hole, etc. But I was running the forge today so I wanted to get a head start on the fittings...

Hopefully I can do some grinding on the blade tomorrow....
 
It was nice meeting you in Little Rock this past weekend! :) Nice work on #000002. It's going to be really cool when it's all done. Thanks for showing us part of what goes into this piece.
 
Nice meeting you too Kyle... Your work is inspiring.

I'm really hoping to step this one up a notch in terms of detail in the handle..... I just love the idea of working with a historical profile and general design... but pretending like I'm a creative smith working within the times....
 
Thanks Claudio...

Did some more work on fittings this morning....

I forged some curvature into the cross guard and then traced it on some graph paper to check for symmetry, etc...

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I decided to work on the other pommel piece out of concern for the mass in the first piece. I'm just trying to forge this into a rough shape and then go for a lot of grinding. At this point.. it mostly needs a little more width to get the flaring I want (refer to the picture at the beginning of the thread).

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To get the width I just put a shallow fuller in with the press and then flatten:

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And some hand forging as well...

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Now the piece of wrought has all the dimension I need to grind it to the final shape AND hopefully have the mass I need to counterbalance the blade.

I also straightened the blade and scribed my center-line with height gauge to begin grinding the blade. Since I'm doing less forging to shape this time, I will use an angle grinder to hog material off towards the center-line..

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Hopefully I will post some grinding pictures later.....
 
I am following this on and off, I am a big fan of some of the swords in the Castillion find and I own Albion's "Castellan" version of the XVa, it is a very sweet sword. I agree about the first forging for the pommel, it isn't quite wide enough. The pommel on mine measures 1-7/8" wide at the widest point, and it is closely based on the one in the photo you posted.
 
Thanks guys... Justin I don't think I will make that width. But I do plan to stay true to the shape and put some carving in it.

By the way.... I'm not sure if I ever showed the scabbard for the Errant:

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Lots of work today.....

I had to keep hammering on that dang pommel due to fear of losing too much weight grinding it... So more forging to shape:

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After cleaning up a bit...

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And I got most of the grinding done today. I start by grinding the bevels a bit and then switch to establishing the flats and distal taper. Distal taper will be fine tuned by flexing the sword with the tip on the floor and looking for flat/dead spots that indicate stiff areas. Much like tillering a bow. I will try to get pictures of this tomorrow.

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Getting the shoulders (mostly) even with an old file guide. After heat treat I will fine tune with my good carbide lined guide.


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Here is where it is now... almost ready for heat treat. Just need to true up the edges and fine tune distal taper. It is so, so, so important with blades this long to have everything equal and symmetrical in as many dimensions as you can work with. You can easily turn a sword like this into a sabre in the quench.

This picture was taken before the additional forging of the pommel:

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Looking really good so far. Swords are fun but very challenging to build. I like your idea for "tillering" the distal taper...........I'd have never thought of that.
Darcy:)
 
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