Sword #000002 Verteidiger (Scabbard Done)

Here is where the sword is now:

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That picture might not have meant much unless you were aware that we just got hit with the biggest snow storm of the year. We got about 15 inches... so I was dealing with that most of the day (in addition to un-stucking the two vehicles in the picture).

Here is what I did today while the sword was going through it's many tempering cycles in an attempt to correct that nasty hinge.

I drilled out the pommel to accept the tang. At this point.. I just have a hole drilled through.. but I will mill out a recessed, square slot for a portion of the tang... and the rest will be round and peened through the bottom. The recessed square keeps the pommel from spinning. This was the deepest hole I've ever drilled and had to do it from both sides and I was thrilled to see the two holes meet up.

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I also milled out a slot in the guard (which I actually did right before the quench). I made it smaller than the thickness of the blade so that I could hot drift it through thereby getting a nice swell in the guard in the center. This is something often seen in museum swords.. and is something I like. Gives it a nice authentic feel. When milling the slot you leave even shoulders inside for the two back edges of the blade to sit on. These have to be absolutely level otherwise the guard will not sit straight and it will rattle when it all goes together. The pommel is what basically holds it all together so when the tang is peened, it pushes the handle up into the guard which meets the blade. If everything isn't level.. then you have a rattling guard, which isn't good.

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Here I am hotting drifting the guard. I was pleased with how well this went and snug and level the guard is.

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And here is the first 'kink' I had to work out after the quench:

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To fix it, I clamped it to a straight piece of steel with a shim on one side and then soaked in the temper oven for 2 hours (425F).

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This one corrected nicely on the first try due to the thinner cross section. The one I'm dealing with now is 3 inches above the tang where the steel was 3/8". I'm giving it one more shot. If it doesn't work, then re-grind to fix any of the uneven areas that probably caused it and then quench again.
 
Again, great stuff! Thanks for sharing the process. As a new guy, I'm really learning a lot from this post!
 
Well I finally got that blade straight. Five tempering cycles and then figuring out the best clamping method did it...

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Also did more shaping of the cross guard and fitting of the pommel to the tang. Still have more shaping on the guard.. and I won't do the final shaping of the pommel until the whole sword is together. That way I can remove weight if I need to as well as make sure the shape of the pommel is true to the rest of the sword.

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Tomorrow I do clean-up grinding on the sword and finish sanding.

As of now the bare blade is 2 lbs 6 oz, 32" from start of blade to tip, 2 3/8" wide, 3/8" thick at tang. Blade weight is 3 lbs 9 oz with pommel and guard. This will come down with guard and pommel shaping.
 
That is a cool book. My son took it out from the library and we looked at it quite a bit together picking our favourite swords. Fun times.
 
Very cool Scott, have fun hand sanding!! :eek:
 
Have fun with that book John. I want to see you make the two-handed sword that is longer than the guy holding it.

Ben... It's actually not too bad because I will machine sand it to 220 with the lines running towards the tip.. and then just go over that with a 150 EDM stone. I want it to have a 'draw filed' look under the antique finish.
 
Not too much work over the weekend.. wife's birthday. But I got a good start on the blade finish. 150 grit EDM, followed by 150 grit paper:

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I recently spent a couple of days with Patrick Hastings (Tagane Arts) learning the very basics of a type of Japanese engraving called katakiri. I thought it would be fun to start including a 'passau' mark on all of my swords using some of the chisels I made with Patrick. These were usually wolf marks and where very simple chisel mark patterns. But there are examples of other animals and the idea (originally) is that the animal mark gave the blade some talismanic protection. So I offered to the client the opportunity to select something of meaning to him. In this case... a griffon (not completely done yet).

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Thanks guys...

Things have been crazy here. All that spring snow is now melting into my shop and we've been trying to chop up and move a big ice dam to divert water another way..

But some progress. Copper spacer has been fashioned and white oak scales morticed for handle/grip.....

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Okay... Got some more work done today. Guard etched... Handle grip almost done.. Copper spacer textured (not showing well). Just need to do pommel and back third of grip and blade/finish cosmetics.

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that sword is looking really good. can't wait to see it finished. looks like its going to be totaly sweet. I did a viking style sword a little while ago that was a lot of fun. Its amazing though, how long each piece takes to make though isn't it?
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Thanks Lawk... Yup. Swords are a lots of work. But they are fun to have. Wait.. I don't own one. They take too long to make. :-(
 
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