Custom Dagger & Stumpy Sword
Sept 10, 2007 16:53:23 GMT
Post by Brendan Olszowy on Sept 10, 2007 16:53:23 GMT
One or two of you may be aware that I had the misfortune recently of receiving a Generation 2 Scottish Single handed sword with a defect in the blade. There was a thin section in the blade inconveniently placed about 8 inches before the tip – right at the COP. Subsequently the obvious outcome became that the sword gave in to stress there and bent.
Clyde has stuck by his principles of customer service and offered to replace my sword for me.
I happen to be located in the most isolated capital city on the planet, and as such the cost of returning my sword to Clyde was ridiculous. As such Clyde said that I might as well hang on to the defective sword.
I’m a hands on sort of guy and not one to let a nice bit of kit go to waste, so I cut the defective section from the blade, to create a kind of Scottish short sword. I removed 165mm (6.5”) of blade and sculpted a new tip for her. The last two inches of the sword are still thin but I couldn't cut any further back due to the fuller. It seems strong enough however.
The blade is now only 26”, and the POB has moved back from 5” to 3.5” from the base of the guard.
Well the sword is transformed now, literally. The blade feels how I imagined a Gen 2 blade should. When I first got the sword I flexed the blade only about 2” and could feel that there was something wrong, and declined to flex it any further.
Originally I thought the temper may be a problem, but it is clear to me now that the thin section of the blade was its only problem. (however heat treat there may have differed as it was thinner).
Now the blade is very reluctant to take a set. I have flexed it a little each way and it behaves very well. It has also proven tough as nails while retaining its phenomenal cutting power.
It is a heavy little guy, still being around 3lb 2oz. I have ambitions to craft the pommel into some new shape to lighten the weight and improve the grip and apperance - stay tuned for that.
Section 2 - what to do with the offcut?
Not wanting to allow the removed section of blade to go to waste I retained it with ambitions to make a little dagger. Also being of an obsessive nature I have already spent the hours I needed to craft myself a fine little Gen 2 Custom Dagger.
I will allow the pictures to explain the process of production. If you are inclined to do this sort of thing yourself you won’t need any instruction.
I used the base part of a hatchet handle to craft the grip. The tang pin is 3/16” solid brass rod. The Cross Guard is 2/16” mild steel strap.
The measurements are as follows:
Overall blade cutoff 165mm.
Of that 45mm is tang, with 120mm protruding blade.
Cross guard is 110mm wide.
Handle is 125mm long.
Total Length 248mm (10")
The only tricky bit was crafting a perfect fit for the tang in both the cross and the handle. The cross used a series of drilled holes in descending size from the centre. I then cold chiselled the slit enough to get a diamond needle file in there – then filed it out bit by bit till I had a perfect fit. It will only go on the tang one way – that’s how tight the tolerances ended up.
The grip used a similar series of holes for the tang, using the drill bits to ream it out. The handle slit was a bit sloppier so it was filled with epoxy resin prior to insertion.
The Pictures:
I've edited this final picture to show as the Actual size on my 15" (1280 x 800 pixel) monitor:
Watch this space for some news on cutting tests.
Hope you enjoyed my salvage mission! ;D
**edit : See here for my further modifications: /index.cgi?action=display&board=swordcustom&thread=1195259567 **