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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2009 23:44:54 GMT
Hello, everyone. This is my first post on a fourm ive been haunting for awhile, so i'd like to say hello and hope to meet many new people here.
Anyways, i'm trying to remove the grips on my windlass Qama, but i dont know how. I think that i may have to unscrew the studs or pound them out. Any info would be nice.
I do plan on adding the grips back on, but i was going to add a cross guard so i may have to grind the ivory and attach the metal to the blade.
Thanks.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2009 1:04:58 GMT
The grips are not screwed on. You will have to punch them out somehow.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2009 6:37:22 GMT
Do you have the Windless Qama?
I'm not sure how you'd attach a cross guard to this. Historically, European weapons with full tangs often had the guards pined though the tang. You could almost do this without removing the grip.
The pins are peened and probably glued. I ground mine down and then punched them out. I also damaged the horn slabs quite a bit though and it sounds like you wouldn't want to do that.
Oh, and the tang is somewhat of a disappointment. It's not actually all the same piece of steel. The blade is forged with a decent tang but not much more than the usual windless tang. It's then welded into the piece sandwiched in the grip. It's still plenty strong, just not what I was expecting to find. I don't doubt it's structural integrity but it did have an effect on how I'm planning to finish it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2009 13:11:53 GMT
I would be interested in seeing the finished product, shadowlord. Welcome to the SBG forums by the way.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2009 20:22:00 GMT
I suggest against it.
The grip panels are difficult to remove, and will be even more difficult to reattach.
Also, the design is not made to have a crossguard. The shoulder simply isn't designed to support one. Though a good beater for the price, it's a pretty thin blade throughout.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2009 7:18:50 GMT
Oh, and the tang is somewhat of a disappointment. It's not actually all the same piece of steel. The blade is forged with a decent tang but not much more than the usual windless tang. It's then welded into the piece sandwiched in the grip. It's still plenty strong, just not what I was expecting to find. I don't doubt it's structural integrity but it did have an effect on how I'm planning to finish it. That's really weird. It seems it would be more trouble than just making the whole thing one piece. To the op, I don't see how you could really get the scales off and still have them nice enough to put back on. Like Nathan notes, they are held on with two big rivets (and possibly epoxy) and that natural horn (waterbuffalo seems most likely) will have a tendancy to crack and flake like crazy. I have a large chip in the end of one of the scales on mine just from a 2' drop to some bricks from my cutting stand. You may be best off getting some nice hardwood knife handle scales to use (ebay or knifekits.com).
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2009 17:44:11 GMT
I wouldn't bother trying to keep the scales. They're not that great, just simple buffalo horn. Mine were intact when I removed them but I decided I'll go with a nice wood or faux ivory instead.
As for a crossguard, I can't see why you want one, but it might work. You never said whether it was a long one or not anyway; a short crossguard in old Viking style would work an an interesting way. As for fitting it, cut off the flared part of the tang in the pommel region so your guard can fit over the tang, and grind down the shoulders to go with a good old wedge fit, then attach your handle scales (new or old).
As for other comments, I'm finding a few surprises. My two Qama are over 20 years old, so maybe Windlass has changed it's manufacturing drastically, but unless that's true I'll totally disagree with Nathan and HR. First of all, my tangs are all definitely one forged piece.
And the blade is definitely not "thin!" Between its shortness and its thickness, my Qama are most certainly not cutters as much as choppers.
Anyway, for the price you can't beat it as a project blade--and if you don't like your experiment, well, just dehilt it and try something else. Mine have seen life in its original form, as a tanged boar spear, and hilted as a gladius, and now I've got a blade bare again and pondering something new. I'll look forward to see your version.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2009 18:38:55 GMT
No offense Lemal but I know how mine was put together. I think it's safe to assume that Windless has simply changed their construction methods. These pictures don't show it very well because I already modified the tang. The construction is still pretty obvious though. Oh, and I've only had mine for a couple of months.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2009 16:24:03 GMT
Wow, quite sad. Very different than mine. In fact, I have to ask whether the butt portion of the tang came the way we see in the picture too!
If need be I can post a pic of mine, since I haven't lopped them off, but mine flares in the "pommel" section--it's literally full tang, with the tang visible (or it was) at all places between the scales.
Kind of sad. I was hoping to pick yet another one up, and while I'd still do so I'm not quite as enthusiastic.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2009 17:07:04 GMT
Mine was like that. These pictures are after modification. The general profile was probably the same as yours. The tang was visible all the way around the grip.
I only posted these since I didn't have any pictures before the reshaping. I just wanted to demonstrate the construction. It's not really a bad thing for a sword of this size, I think. But it does limit some of the customization options one has with this piece.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2009 14:14:00 GMT
I did one of these about 20+ years ago, making a quasi euro shortsword for my youngest brother. I ground of the rivets on one side and punched them out.
I ground down the tang, narrowing it a bit and ground the end of the tang dramatically. This allowed me to thread the tang for a pommel.
I used three different pieces of brass for the pommel, doing file work on the middle and sandwiching it between the other two pieces. I don't remember if I used a three part system for the guard or just a single piece.
The grip was wood with a leather wrap, sans cord and the scabbard I think was the original with just a matching leather cover.
When removing the horn scales you will mar them, that doesn't mean they won't be reuseable but in my case I didn't think they would fit with the type customization I was going for.
I'll have to see if my brother can email me a pic that I can post here.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2010 23:10:16 GMT
Well i tried on two diffrent Qama, neither of them worked and i ended up just dropping the thing and moving on.
Thx for all the reply's, now that i think about it the guard may have made the grip even shorter than it is already. lol
Nice pics of the tang there, never would have thought it would be like that...
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