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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2010 23:46:51 GMT
Ladies and Gents, I bring you Imperfectus!(Or I might call him Beast... not sure yet) I still have the sharpening to do, and I need to trim up the leather around the pommel and guard and throw a final polish on the pommel and guard... Blarg. Ok, maybe 90% was a bit over optimistic on my part. But at least it looks like a sword! A couple things I've learned from this: Even tho it might sound like a neat idea to leave the pommel as a circle and form the grip around it, it doesn't make anything easier, especially the leather wrapping part. The same goes for the guard. I thought it would be cool to have a slight concave grind into the guard so the grip could snuggle down in there. But no, not unless you are a far more patient person then I am. The problem is that when I went to cut the leather, I had to compensate for these curves at either end, then compensate for the stretching and shrinking of the leather. But all in all, it's functional, feels good and I love the guard design. After I get him sharpened up, I'll do a video review. If you want to see close ups. Well, I'll have to go take some, but before that I'd have to polish him up a bit. he wasn't ready for a photo shoot just yet.
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Post by brotherbanzai on Aug 22, 2010 23:53:42 GMT
Not bad Greg The pommel looks a bit small in the pic, how's it feel? I find it easier to sharpen the blade before mounting, but then of course you have to deal with fiddling with a sharp blade while getting the parts on.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 0:26:30 GMT
The PoB is exactly 6" up from the guard and the CoP is 2" below the fuller termination.
It has a lot of blade presence. I knew going into this that it wouldn't be a "fast" sword by any means, but it dry handles quite well. The distal taper goes from 3/16" to 2/16".
All in all tho, this might become my new favorite sword. There is just something about it. I can't really say to be honest.
Perhaps it was the hours and hours and hours of amateur work I put into the thing. I would try different grips and find them to big or to small, then have to destroy the grip to put a new one on. I had ground myself in circles trying to get the symetry right, but in the end, I accepted that if I ground anymore, that I woulnd't have any guard left.
But perhaps it wasn't all the work that I put into it. The sword screams "POWER!" and I almost feel like I'm doing it in injustice by using it to cut water bottles with.
Again, it's hard to put into words.
But if it's because I DID make it, then I can only imagine what my first dagger will feel like after I build a forge.
Oh, and the pommel looking to small might be an optical illusion because I kept the tang as long as I did. There was enough peening material to bring the pommel in another 2 inches, but I wanted a long handle.
As far as sharpening goes. I figured that I would still be sharpening it from time to time after I'm using it, so it wouldn't hurt me to wait till it was assembled. Oh, and there were plenty of times when I was putting the blade together that I thought "I'm glad this isn't sharp"
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Post by brotherbanzai on Aug 23, 2010 0:42:45 GMT
I'm glad you like how it turned out. You'll learn all kinds of new stuff with each new project that you can apply to the next. These moat blades are really great to play around with. My favorite sword is always the one I've finished most recently
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 1:03:57 GMT
That looks really nice, Greg. Neat looking guard. I'm almost finished a new pommel and guard for a VA 303s. It's such a gratifying thing to put your own labor into a sword. Can't wait to see how the completed product looks, because so far, your work looks better than some production pieces.
Good job and +1 from me.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 1:05:20 GMT
Very powerful, very aggressive design, indeed, Greg. Well done!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 1:22:29 GMT
I like it. Make me one just like it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 1:23:34 GMT
Man.. that's the stuff. Not a bad job all in all. Was that a 1st run moat sale blade, rusty and all? If so, great job on the re-finishing. Love the name. Enjoying this stuff makes up for all the tedium.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 4:03:48 GMT
Well, the story behind this one is that I had bought 8 blades from the moat sale. Only 1 of them was heat treated. So somehow me and Brother B. started talking. I had some blades he was wanting, he had a few that were heat treated but he didn't care for. So we worked out a swap and the beginnings of Imperfectus was born.
I have another blade just like this one, which I'll take what I've learned from this one and apply to the next. I'm still undecided as far as the design goes. I LOVE the guard design on this one, and would love to have another just like it... but better.
Then I'd take the combination of both of tho's and apply it to the Lady V blade that I got. I have a guard on it right now, but thats about it.
I'm glad it's so well recieved. I plan to start sharpening him tomorrow and have it as sharp as my other blades by mid week.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 12:48:41 GMT
Excuse the newb for asking, but....
What exactly is a moat sale?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 14:27:32 GMT
Excuse the newb for asking, but.... What exactly is a moat sale? It's when a castle goes out of business and they start selling off the pieces. Now that there's been a moat sale, you can expect a Wall sale and a gatehouse sale and a keep sale... Veldruk obviously bought the moat and dredged it...
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Post by brotherbanzai on Aug 23, 2010 14:35:39 GMT
Albion-swords, the premier US production sword maker, did some house cleaning a while ago (still doing it to some extent but not so many potential bargains anymore). They gathered up all the blades they had sitting around the shop and sold them off at very low prices ($30-$40). They called this their "moat sale". There was very little information available on the blades they were selling; some were heat treated, some were not; some were high carbon steel, some were not; some were Albion blades, some were not. So there were some awesome deals, some pretty good deals, some decent deals, and some crap.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2010 15:46:29 GMT
Excuse the newb for asking, but.... What exactly is a moat sale? It's when a castle goes out of business and they start selling off the pieces. Now that there's been a moat sale, you can expect a Wall sale and a gatehouse sale and a keep sale... Veldruk obviously bought the moat and dredged it... If'n you say so..... If I was in to euros I would say that's awesome. But this particular sword has turned out quite nice. Looks new to me anyway.
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Post by stromloswordsusa on Aug 23, 2010 21:54:05 GMT
Great work Greg!!!
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Post by sparky on Aug 23, 2010 22:02:41 GMT
I hate you Greg! ;D Is there anything you can't do? Seriously that is a good looking job you have done. I have a question though, I won a blade at BKS' Hammer in and I'm working (very slowly) on a grip. My question is how did you do yours? Did you shape one piece of wood or use two "half" piece and glue 'em together? Thanks, Rob
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2010 17:03:20 GMT
Muahahahah! And next, the presidency! Nah, I think the reason I can do half the things that I can is because I'm just REALLY into it. I've been romanced by the sword and all things sword related, and I get an immense satisfaction out of a job like this. As for making the grip... Well, from the research that I've done and the conversations I've had with Gaffer on the subject, I decided to go for the two halves. Two reasons for this. First, it's easier. I basically went down to Lowe's, picked up a single plank of poplar that was wide enough for a grip and about 4x as long as most grips. Then I cut the plank into 4 pieces, then split one of tho's in half- longways. Then it's just a matter of getting some epoxy and tracing out the shape of your tang. Gaffer explains everything in very simple steps on his site: www.yeoldegaffers.com/default.aspAlso, in the easier category, I didn't want to make a round hole square. That's to say that after drilling a hole through the core of the grip, you'd then have to go back and square it out, filing and filing and filing... well, I had enough of that with the pommel. Second, practice. I had originally waited to peen the pommel on before I had the grip done, but then I ran into issues with gaps and rattles and all sorts of other small but bothersome problems. So I peened the pommel on and created the grip a little longer then the space on the tang, then I hand sanded the piece down to where it wedged in there nice and tight. That grip is the... 3rd or 4th model that I tried. The first I made was to small, the second to big, the 3rd didn't fit the tang right. So yeah. Right now I can knock out a grip in about an hour. I use power tools tho. Low grit sanding belts mainly. Then I clamp a sander (with the flat surface) into my vice and use that to make flat places flat. My advice to anyone looking to do some custom grips for their blades is go ahead and buy a few grip sized planks of wood and go at it. I was scared to death when I first started, but after it failed as a finish project and I tossed it to the side, the remaining attempts had all the knowledge that I learned from the first into it, so really, just go for it!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2010 0:12:59 GMT
That grip is the... 3rd or 4th model that I tried. The first I made was to small, the second to big, the 3rd didn't fit the tang right. ...But the fourth grip was Just right. So Goldilocks spent all day cutting bottles...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2010 3:43:54 GMT
Trust me... you really don't want to see me in a golden wig.
On the other hand.... *evil grin*
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2010 13:28:40 GMT
If you're gonna do the wig, you gotta go all out and get the whole German little girl dress thing on. That's what RicWilly would do.
GoldWilly and the 3 swords.
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Post by Dave(utilityslave) on Aug 25, 2010 19:04:32 GMT
Hmmmmm....GoldWilly.......sounds obscene!
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