Time for a new BBQ Challenge - The Camp Sword

Some cool stuff happening here.
SBranson..........great looking sword........makes me want to go forge another set of bevels on my contribution.
Here's where I am so far. Fresh from the forge....... 18 inch blade......25 1/4 inches overall. 5160. Gonna take me a while to get it finished as I am working on it between other projects.
Darcy:)
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Man there are some sweet sword entries.

Tai, your temper lines are way cool, I'm looking forward to seeing them ty into the whole package.

The "Gladius" is looking sweet. looks like you decided to drop the camp from the beginning of the name, and went straight Sword. Nice.

Dellis, looking good what is the width of that thing? It is making your anvil look small.

I guess I'm in the super chopper category.
 
Dellis, looking good what is the width of that thing? It is making your anvil look small.

I guess I'm in the super chopper category.
Thanks, I like the looks of your super chopper.:)
The blade on mine is 1.5" wide at the ricasso and 3/16" under 2" at the widest point..........1/4 inch thick 5160.
Thanks Bruce........can't wait to see that new forge in action.
Darcy:)
 
Darcy, that forging looks excellent!

At this point, I think I'm going to start on the scabbard,... maybe save the handle for last.

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Thanks Tai, that's high praise coming from a forging guru like you.
Your work is on level and style apart........looking forward to seeing where you go with that one..........sure is pointy.
Darcy:)
 
This thread seems to be missing the BBQ. Here is a brisket for you guys to chew on while checking out the swords.

Rubbed with:
Coarse ground black pepper
Salt
Sugar
Onion powder
Mustard powder
garlic powder
chili powder
and some cayenne

Put on around half hour or so with fat trimmings draped across the top. Apple and Cherry wood chucks providing the smoke.
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Cooking Heavenly Meat needs sunbeams, was only missing the rainbows and fairy dust.
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After around 5 hours. Looks good but still has 4 more hours to go. Has just hit "The stall" at 150 deg.
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And here you go all ready to serve up! Paired wit a bit of my favorite BBQ sauce thinned with beer, and the drippings from the Brisket, and enjoy.
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Here's my camp sword ready to heat treat. Used my texturing hammer on the flats and convex ground to about .050 at the edge. Will be a week or so before I get back to it again.
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Now I have to go get a snack after looking at those bbq pics.
Darcy:)
 
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Nice looking sword DEllis. What are you quenching in? Just wondered why so thick an edge.

Carl... that brisket looks amazing..

The "Gladius" is looking sweet. looks like you decided to drop the camp from the beginning of the name, and went straight Sword. Nice.

The forge finished peak is the "camp" part of the sword. I am thinking rustic on the handle too to keep in theme.

Thanks for the comments guys.
 
Stuart, it will be quenched in warm veggie oil after a 10 min soak at 1525 or so. I like to keep it a bit heavy at the edge to minimize decarb..........50thou doesn't seem too thick to me about like a dime. I don't use an anti scale compound.
Darcy:)
 
Thanks. Just wondering and learning. I've only recently started using anti-scale compound and this was only my third time. The steel comes out so clean afterwards. I usually clay coat though as I almost exclusively use W2.
 
Wow, well, I'm more than a little intimidated posting my camp sword up here, especially after seeing all the advanced works by you guys. I really wanted to try a wakizashi, but I'm just bot advanced enough yet, so I decided to take the blade shape, bastardize it, and make the handle different. So, actually, nothing like a wakizashi really. Lol.

Mine started as a piece of Aldo's 3/16" x 1 1/4" x 18" O1. Originally I flat ground it, but decided to push my personal envelope a bit on this blade and do some things I'd never done before.

1. Huge blade. Longest prior to this was 4" blade and 9" OAL.
2. Distal taper. Loved doing it and will try it again on a blade soon. I don't really know what I'm doing though, so I should probably do some research and learning before trying it again.
3. Rounded spine. I just felt like this blade needed it. Don't ask me why. Maybe it was a mistake, but I like it.
4. Hemp wrap. The handle is going to be hemp wrapped over leather then epoxy over it. I need to look up a good tutorial on this as well.
5. Plungeless blade. It originally was supposed to be a high flat grind with a nice plunge, but then I really liked the looks of a couple forged plungeless blades I saw online and decided to try it. You can see the remnants of the plunge on the one side. It is actually a file mark that was an inch ahead of the plunge that I couldn't get out.
6. Semi convex blade. I did a flat grind, but when I rounded the spine I didn't like what it looked like, so I took the platen off and made 'er kinda convex. Like everything else, I need to look up how to actually do it, because I'm not sure I got it right.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the "hilt/guard" yet. I though about braided 5-10 stands of copper wire wrapped around the front of the scales then epoxied to the hemp, but like everything else, I haven't tried it before and I want to play with it and see how it looks before messing this sword up. Otherwise, I had thought about a heavy braid of hemp worked into the handle wrap as a guard.

Pictures:
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Distal taper.
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A couple in hand.
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I need to run some sandpaper on a leather backed board over it before sending to heat treat, but other than that, it's ready I hope.

Comments, suggestions, advice solicited and appreciated.
 
I'm in!
This is my design:

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Blade 14", Handle 6"

Finishing this could take a looooong time, since I can only work on weekends and have to order the stock first...

Any thoughts or comments on the design would be appreciated!

Best regards,
Murphys Law.
 
It’s a type of sculpting rasp called a “riffler”. There are lots of different shapes for all kinds of stuff.

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Wow man I feel like a newbie now after seeing all these, oh wait I am! I ground the bevels to about 1/16" thick. I am going to do a convex grind the rest of the way. Then round out the finger grooves, then the holes in the tang will follow.

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The below isn't aimed at anyones specific blade, but is some general long blade design info.


Many first long blades are made by stock removal, and the bar dimensions determine the blade shape. Just a few tweaks in the shape can make a long blade/short sword much more appealing. In a forged blades, shape and curvature isn't an issue, but with stock reduction, a little bending of the bar first can make a big difference. The small amount of bend needed in the flat bar is so small, it can be done cold with just a hammer. Grip the bar with a pair of vice grips at the end, and set the ends on two 2X4s. Strike the bar edge in the center with a few good whacks. It should bend the bar about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. That is more than enough.

Distal taper - This is a good feature in most any blade. it gives balance to the blade physically, and flow visually.
Curvature - A blade over 8" long will have a somewhat unnatural look if it is too straight. Until it gets 24" long, this seems to magnify. Just the smallest bit of curvature, either positive or negative, will make the blade have better lines. On most blades, just a little sori ( upward curve) , or a bit of down curve (edge drop), or recurve will make the blade look sleeker in its lines.
Handle - A simple hand friendly handle is the way to go. What Frank has on his blade will fit most any hand, have good grip, and be easy to make. Finger grooves, big dropped butts, and other fancy features don't work as well on long blades.
 
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