How I make swords by stock removal (very long)
Jan 11, 2013 6:11:31 GMT
Post by Tinker Pearce on Jan 11, 2013 6:11:31 GMT
Adapted from 'The Medieval Sword in the Modern World, 2nd edition,' Chapter 12
I get asked this a lot so I am including a detailed description of how I make swords based on one published several years ago on Swordforum.com. The method that I detail here is entirely modern, but there are plenty of books on the forging of swords.
The Blade
I start the process with a bar of 5160 spring steel. I order this from Pacific Machine and Tool Steel in Portland, Oregon, a good company to deal with. It arrives “as-rolled” which means it is half-hard.
The steel is cut on a Grizzly 64-1/2 inch metal cutting band saw. This type can be used vertically or employed as a cut-off saw. For these stages I use the saw vertically while sitting on the base to stabilize it as I feed in the steel. I use a flex-back Bi-metal blade, 64-1/2x1/2x.025 inches.
I am going to describe making Type XIIa sword with a 32-inch blade but the process is the same as any other sword that I make. I clean the steel with acetone to remove any grease, oil, etc. Measuring the dimensions carefully, I mark the steel with a permanent marker. I mark the tang approximately 1 inch longer than it needs to be—it's easier to make things shorter than longer and this allows room to drill a hole in the tang so that the heat-treat facility can hang the sword vertically in the furnace. The tang will be marked 3/4 inches wide at the shoulder and marked so that the shoulder will finish out well rounded. The tang will taper to just less than 1/2 inch wide at the tip.What I wind up with is an un-pointed sword-shaped flat bar of steel with a tang cut on one end. I refer to this as a “Sword-Blank,” as it can at this point, be made into any of a variety of swords. For our 32 inch long type XII the blade would be 32-1/4 inches long, 2 inches wide at the base, and have a straight taper to approximately 1-1/4 inch wide at the flat tip. The tang will be approximately 10 inches, allowing room for an 8 inch handle.
I take the load of sword blanks Pacific Metallurgical in Kent, Washington, for Hardening and Tempering. I have them use a process called “Marquenching,” which yields the toughest possible structure for this alloy. Most swords I will have tempered to HRc58 to 60. Pacific Metallurgical is very good—the blanks come back between HRc58.5 to 59.5. This is far too hard for a finished sword blade; I specify this temper because I will be selectively drawing the temper through the spine and tang later.
Rough Grinding
After I collect the blades from heat-treat I will select the blade that I will be working on and “true-it up.” This is the final shaping of the profile, where I establish the shape of the point and make sure the edges are straight. This is done on a Bader 2x72 belt grinder set up to run at 2650 SFPM. I will usually use old 60 grit Ceramic belts for this. There is a 4 foot long water tank underneath the Bader to keep the blade cool. As all the grinding takes place after Heat Treat care must be maintained to insure that the blade stays cool enough to not interfere with the temper of the steel.
After the sword is “straight-and-true,” I go to the 2x72 Wilton Square Wheel grinder. This grinder is setup to run at 4850 SFPM. I adjust the grinder so that the platen is at a 45-degree angle to the table with the table very close to it. I then grind bevels onto the edges of the sword to establish the location of the cutting edge. At the end of this process the edge is beveled and there is a flat approximately .010 to .015 inch in the center of either edge of the sword blank.
For our Type XIIa (or any other fullered Blade), the next step is grinding the fullers. Type XIIs have a fuller running 1/2 to 2/3 of the length of the blade. I again clean the blade with acetone then mark the centerline of the flat with the marker. For a type XII I typically mark the fuller about 5/8 inches wide. For this fuller I will install a 1-1/2 inch contact wheel on the Bader. I use the lower speed grinder because the blade stays cooler and at the lower speed, it takes longer to screw it up. Whenever possible, I use a fresh belt for this.
The grinder is set up low enough that I can lean over the contact wheel and see what I am doing on the back side of the blade where the grinding happens. I also direct a light to shine on this side of the blade. I start at the base of the fuller (which usually extends slightly onto the tang as it does on historical swords) and start a fairly deep cut with the contact wheel between the marked lines. I will gradually work this cut down the length of the fuller, trying to stay between the lines and keeping things as straight as possible. At the tip of the fuller I may grind the fuller rounded depending on the effect I want. Again great care is taken not to over-heat the sword by frequently quenching it in water in the long tank to keep things cool.
Once this fuller is ground I flip the sword and grind the fuller on the opposite face. Once both fullers are ground I finish them with a 240-grit belt followed by a 400 grit belt. It is hugely easier to grind the fullers before any other part of the blade and if you screw up really badly you can start over before too much work has gone into the blade. Once the fullers are finished I am ready to rough-grind the edge bevels.
For this stage (sometimes referred to as Hogging), I will be removing up to 60% of the remaining weight of the sword blank and sterner measures are needed. I use a 7-inch 5000rpm angle grinder for hogging, with a rubber SpiraCool™ backing and cloth-backed Ceramic disks. This tool weighs about 15 pounds. I have a special grinding bench for this with a 6-foot board attached to the edge with a thin steel shield protecting the rest of the bench from the spark-stream. I use adjustable-grip locking pliers to clamp the blade to the grinding bench by its tang. I mark the blades primary bevel on either side. I mark from the base of the fuller on one side to the opposite side at an angle so that this bevel will cut well across the center line near the point so that distal taper will be built-in when I grind the bevels on the opposite side.
I start by expanding the existing edge bevel towards the marked line, removing the blade from the grinding bench frequently to cool it in the long tank and alternating sides of the blade to equalize stresses in the material. Once this bevel is established on each side I mark the secondary bevel to the centerline of the sword and grind these bevels. The Type XII has a flat ogival section from the end of the fuller to the point, so after the edge bevels are established I will carefully grind a flat about 1 inch wide from near the tip of the blade to the tip of the fuller on either side.
I then move back to the Wilton grinder and set it up for slack-belt grinding by removing the table and rotating the platen/small wheel assembly to present the 3 inch contact wheel. I adjust it so that the belt is extremely tight. Starting with the blade held at 90 degrees to the belt at the base of the blade I will then smooth out the marks from the hand-held grinder. At the end of this each bevel with have a series of straight grinding marks running the across the width of the blade perpendicular to the long axis of the sword. To create the flat-ogival section of the blade from the tip of the fuller to the point I will make a series of passes to “roll” the edges off between the edge bevels and the central flat resulting in the desired cross section.
Differential Tempering
The sword is rough ground now and ready for Differential Tempering. The blade was hardened and tempered already so this is actually a second stage of tempering. As mentioned the sword, at HRc58-60, is far too hard and would quickly shatter in use. Now we fix that. The idea is to finish with a sword that is still HRc58+ at the cutting edge but only HRc45 to 48 at the center of the blade and through the tang. This yields an optimum balance between edge retention and flexibility/shock resistance. I temper the center third of the blade. Because of the beveling of the edge, this means that well over half of the sword's mass winds up at a full spring temper. To complete the differential temper I use a fine tip on my oxy-propane torch. I use oxy-propane rather than oxy-acetylene as this mix of gas shows the color of the steel better and is enough cooler than oxy-acetylene to reduce the risk of over-heating. It is VERY important not to over-heat the steel as 5160 will air-harden in thin sections—over-heating can result in air-hardened sections which are very brittle and can cause the sword to fail on impact.
I set up the torch and stool next to the long cooling tank with a very bright light shining directly on the working area. Starting at the tip of the tang I heat the steel until it oxidizes to a blue color. On the tang I work in sections approximately 1 to 2 inches long, alternating sides so that I don’t induce stresses that might cause the tang to warp. I work all the way up the tang slowly enough to insure that the heat soaks all the way through and when I reach the shoulder I color that thoroughly almost to the cutting edges. I then quickly cool it in water to prevent the heat from spreading too much.
Starting at the base of the blade I heat the steel to the same even blue color across the center third of the blade, working in approximately 1 inch sections and alternating sides with a quick dip in the water tank between sides to prevent the heat from “bleeding” to the cutting edges. As the blade gets thinner and narrower towards the tip I work in shorter and shorter sections as the heat will bleed much faster through the thinner steel. I work to just within an inch of the tip.
Differential Tempering with an oxy-propane torch
When finished, this type of sword will easily flex over 90 degrees yet the edge is hard enough to shear (cheap) chain mail without doing more than dulling the cutting edge.
Finish Grinding
For finish grinding I once again turn to the Wilton, this time mounting a 240 grit belt. Starting at the base with the blade held at approximately 45 degrees to the axis of the belt I grind out the 60 grit marks and slightly refine the shape of the bevels, evening them out. By grinding at 45 degrees to the 60 grit marks these marks are readily apparent and it is easy to tell when the 60 grit marks are completely removed. The sword is cooled in the long tank any time it gets too hot to handle comfortably so that the temper is not interfered with. As the fullers are already up to a 400 grit finish, the fullers are ready to polish and I leave them alone. The edge also gets thinner during this process and care must be taken not to actually sharpen the edge. Sometimes further truing is needed at this stage and for this I use a 9 inch bench-mount disc sander as the rotating disc at 90 degrees to the table makes it very easy to straighten the edges as needed.
Once I am satisfied that all the grinding marks from 60 grit are removed, I progress to 400 grit, mounting a Silicon Carbide belt on the Wilton grinder. Grinding perpendicular to the belt and cooling frequently I then remove all of the 240 grit marks. Again, as I am grinding at 45 degrees to the previous marks it is easy to see when I have ground enough. At the end I have very fine grind lines running across the sword perpendicular to the sword's axis. Typically the cutting edge of the sword now has a flat approximately .004 to .006 inch across. The sword is now ready for polishing to a bright finish.
Polishing
For polishing I use a 1 hp Baldor buffer with two 14 inch x ½ inch Sisal (rope fiber) wheels mounted side by side to produce a 1 inch wide surface. The buffer is on a freestanding table only slightly wider than the base of the buffer allowing free access to the wheels on either side. The on/off switch is mounted on the leg of this table, so that I don't have to reach anywhere near the wheels to turn the machine on or off and in the event of disaster I can actually kick the switch off while clutching an injury.
Buffing is easily the most dangerous stage. The 14-inch wheel can grab the blade and
“throw” it sideways with great force if you aren't careful. Smaller metal parts can be grabbed and thrown at speeds easily exceeding 100 mph.
I use “Black Stainless” rouge that is quite aggressive. Grinding length-wise on the blade and cooling frequently either in the quench-bucket positioned next to the buffer or in the long tank under the Bader grinder. This rouge/wheel combination is aggressive enough to ruin the temper if you are not careful, especially in the thin sections near the tip. I start at the tip of the blade while I am still fresh, buffing along the length of the blade to remove the 400 grit marks. I then move to the base of the blade and buff there. The ends are the most dangerous so I get them out of the way before fatigue becomes an issue. I work in sections, always along the length of the blade and do the fullers last. Since all the grinding marks in the fuller run the same direction across the blade, it is easy for 60 grit marks to “hide” here, so this are requires special attention. Once the 400 grit marks are removed and a bright, even finish is established this stage is done and I generally take a long break—this is hard on the back and shoulders!
Finishing the Tang
After polishing the edges of the tang are radiussed and the join of the tang to the shoulder rounded. I use a 60-grit belt on the Wilton Grinder to accomplish this using the slack-belt and the edge of the contact wheel as needed. I measure the tang and grind it to length. Then grind at the tip of the tang to produce a section 1/4 inch square section centered on the tip. The length of this section depends on the type of pommel to be mounted. My XIIa's usually have a wheel-pommel so this section is usually 3/4 inch long. I round this section, clamp the tang in a bench vise and cut 1/4-20 threads on the tip of the spring-tempered tang with a hex die. The blade is now finished and ready for a hilt.
The Hilt
I always make the guard first when I start on the hilt. For our mythical Type XIIa let us go with a cusped straight steel guard that flares towards the tips—that looks good on this type of sword with a wheel pommel.
The Guard
I use mild steel for guards, usually SAE 1018-1020. For this project I would use a bar ½ inch by 3/4 inch. First thing is to measure the length of the guard: 7-1/2 inches will be about right. This piece is then cut to length on the metal-cutting band saw. I then clean the faces with a 60 grit belt on the Bader grinder, set up with the flat-grinding assembly with the grind lines cutting across the width of the guard. I then take a dial caliper and set it to half the width of the stock—in this case .375 inches. Locking the caliper at .375 inches, I set one jaw just off the edge of one side of the piece, and the nice, sharp tip of the other jaw in the center of the piece and rake it down the length of the piece from one end to the other, making a nice scribed line down the center of the guard. The line cuts across the 60 grit grind marks so it is highly visible.
I then decide what the width of the arms of the guard should be—about 3/8 inch in this case so I back the caliper off 3/16 (.185) inch and scribe a line from either side—now the width of the arms is laid out. I mark the center of the guard and since the tang is 3/4 inches wide—excepting the rounded shoulder—I make a mark 1/4 inch from the center on either side of the centerline. To do this with precision I first use a center-punch to mark the center. Then set the dial caliper to .25 inch, stick one jaw in the center-hole, and scribe an arc to either side of the center mark. Where this arc crosses the centerline is the spot to drill on either side of the center. I mark both of these spots with the center punch as well and I am ready to start making a slot for the tang to pass through the guard.
I set up the drill press to run at about 1250 rpm and mount a 1/4 inch cobalt drill bit. These drill bits are less fragile than carbide, but much more heat and wear resistant than high-speed steel. I generally use a “jobber short” bit for this—a bit about 1-1/2-inches long. I clamp what will become the guard in a milling vice that is bolted to the table of the drill press. This allows me to adjust the pieces location in two dimensions with great precision. The table of the drill press is adjustable for height so I adjust it to about 1/4 inch below the point of the bit before I lock everything down. Drill presses are precision machines but they are a lot less robust than a milling machine so having everything close together minimizes what little play there is. I drill three 1/4 inch holes, centered on the marks made with the center punch. I use short plunges (only cutting with the drill bit for a couple of seconds before lifting it), and lubricate frequently with WD40™. When these three holes are done, there is only a thin web of metal between holes.
I use the crank on the milling vice to make shallow passes across the webs with the drill bit, taking them down a few hundredths at a pass until they are gone and I have a slot just over 3/4 inches wide by 1/4 inch across that is centered on the middle of the bar. I work this over with files and a carbide burr in the Foredom™ tool (kind of a super-Dremel™ tool with a flexible shaft connecting the hand-piece that holds the bits to the motor) until it will slip down over the tang to the rounded shoulder.
Next the guard is cut and ground to its final form. The arms’ width is already scribed on, and type XIIa's usually don’t have a defined quillon block so I draw a line at each end of the slot across the guard then draw “swooping” lines connecting the tips of these lines to the scribed line of the arm on either side, taking care to make these four lines symmetrical. I cut along the scribed line until I get to the convex “swoop” line and follow that curve to the edge of the guard. It is usually necessary to cool the guard between cuts, or it becomes uncomfortably hot. Now the guard is in its rough form. Using the 3-inch contact wheel on either grinder with a 60 grit belt, I remove the saw marks and round off the corners between the cuts and the flats on either side of the center.
I specified that this would be a cusped guard meaning that there is a high point at the center. I switch to a 1-1/2 inch contact wheel and again with the 60-grit belt I grind about 1/8 inch deep along either side of the center leaving a semi-circular cut on either side of the center with a point in the middle. I grind away the excess material on the arms to either side of these cuts so that the faces of the arms taper towards the center then curve up to form the cusp. I switch to a 240 grit belt, bevel the edges so it won't scrape the user’s hand, clean up the 60 grit marks and polish on the sisal wheel. This steel is much softer than blade steel so the 240-grit marks clean up surprisingly fast.
The guard must be fitted to the shoulder of the blade. I start by relieving the inside corners of the tang-slot to accommodate the rounded join of shoulder and tang. I usually use a cut-off wheel in the Foredom™ tool and files. When this fits snugly against the shoulder I mark the outline of the base of the blade on the guard, and then use the cutting wheel to hollow-out the resulting outline until the base of the blade is slightly recessed into the face of the guard. The guard's polish is touched-up and the guard is now finished. If properly fitted the guard will require some small effort to remove.
The Pommel
Consulting Records of the Medieval Sword and other sources I decide to use the Type K pommel (a wheel pommel.) For those without handy references, the “K” is a flat disc with raised bosses in the center in the form of flat discs. The theoretical sword (based on others that I have made is) .250 inch thick at the base, tapers to .145 inches thick at the tips of the fullers, then distal tapers rapidly to aprox .083 inch (1/12 inch). It has already been noted that the blade is 2 inches wide at the base. The blade has a straight taper in profile to approximately 4 inches from the moderately acute point. This gives the sword blade an un-mounted COG approximately 7 inches from the guard. The blade weighs approximately 1.3 pounds.
Because I like the look of a pommel that has a greater diameter than the width of the base of the blade, this will of necessity be a heavy pommel. This will draw the COG to 4 inches from the guard. I select a piece of mild-steel round-bar stock approximately 2-1/2 inches in diameter. Using the Grizzly band saw as a cut-off saw I'll slice a section approximately 1 inch thick off the end of the bar. As I will be removing a LOT of weight from this piece I've got a lot of leeway on making the pommel.
The first step now that I have my 1-inch thick 2-1/2 inch diameter disc is to establish a flat where the pommel and handle will meet. Some period swords have a flat on the base of the pommel and some don't—I prefer it.To do this I have set up the Bader grinder with the flat-grinding platen and table and a 60- grit belt. Laying the pommel flat on one face, I grind in one spot until I have a flat approximately 1 inch across. The Bader is not extremely precise for this use so I go to the disc sander with the table set at 90 degrees to the disc and make sure that it is nice and square to the axis of the pommel. I mark and center-punch two holes centered on the flat just over 1/4 inch apart, set it up in the milling vice and mount the 1/4 inch cobalt bit. I can adjust the depth of the plunge on this machine and I set it for the depth that I want. As the pommel is now approximately 2.4 inches across from the flat to the tip and I like the nut that secures the hilt to penetrate at least 1/2 inch I will set the plunge to about 1-3/4 inches. This leaves over 1/2 an inch of the pommel solid at the top. I drill two holes right next to each other, located by the center-punched marks 1-3/4 inches deep. I knock out the web between the holes as described when making the guard. This must be done carefully to produce a good slot as tools don't reach very far down into the slot. When finished I have a slot with radiussed sides just over a 1/2 inch wide and 1-3/4 inches deep.
I then release the lock on the plunge of the drill press so that I can have the full 3-1/2 inch plunge that the drill press is capable of. Carefully centering the bit on the slot I drill a 1/4 inch hole all the way through the pommel. Releasing the pommel from the milling vice I rotate it 180 degrees so that the 1/4 inch hole is uppermost. I slide this hole over the drill bit, lower the drill until the pommel is in the vice again, and tighten the vice on the pommel. This insures that the pommel is centered on the bit. I swap out the bit for a 3/8-inch cobalt bit to counter-sink the pommel for the nut. With the machine off I lower the bit until the tip of the bit is firmly against the pommel centered on the 1/4 inch hole, then lock the plunge so that the machine can lower the bit 1/2 inch and drill the hole. The pommel is then fitted to the tip of the tang so that it is snug and the threaded section at the end of the tang protrudes into the 3/8 inch diameter 1/2 inch deep counter-sunk hole. Most of the fitting is done by modifying the tang—my tools will only reach about 3/4 inch deep in the slot but the tang is easily accessible. Properly fitted, the pommel will be quite snug and will not be able to wobble on any axis.
The Nut
Next I fit the nut. I get the nuts from Gus Trim (Angus Trim Swords). I showed Gus this method of securing a hilt when we first met and we used it on the Tinkerblades production swords. Gus and I both continue to use it to this day. Since Gus makes handfuls of these things at a time on an automated metal lathe why should I bother? When I get these nuts they are not threaded or cross-drilled to facilitate takedown, so the first thing I do is lock the nut in the vice and cut the threads with a 1/4-20 tap.
After the threads are started I switch to a bottom-tap to extend the threads as deep as possible into the nut. Then I set up the nut in the milling vice and, setting the speed to 1800 rpm, I drill a hole just over 1/8 inch in diameter through the nut side-to-side to allow a rod to be inserted through the nut to provide leverage to install or remove the nut. I then check the fit of everything by installing the pommel and nut on the tang.
I grind the flats of the pommel to an even 60-grit finish on the flat-grinding platen on the
Bader. Once I have a good finish, I use the dial caliper to scribe a circle on either flat of
the pommel approximately 1 inch in diameter that represents the boss. I scribe lines around the circumference approximately 1/4 inch from either face. I set of the Wilton Grinder to produce a 45-degree bevel, install a 60 grit belt, and grind bevels all the way around the pommels edges to the scribed line. I install the pommel again and test the balance—I might have to change my plan if the balance comes in before the pommel attains its final shape.
It will still balance too close to the guard at this point so I dismount the pommel and return to the Wilton. I remove the table from the Wilton grinder and set it up to present the 3-inch contact wheel and install a 60-grit belt. Adjusting the tracking of the belt so that the belt rides just over the edge of the contact wheel I begin carefully removing material around the marked central boss starting with the boss over-sized so that I can adjust the roundness of the boss and remove the correct amount of material to achieve the desired dynamics for the sword. When I am satisfied with the form and weight of the pommel I will leave it rough so that I can adjust the weight as needed after making and installing the handle.
The Handle
There are a lot of options for making the handle as far as details, materials, decoration, etc. I used to drill-through hardwood handles even when they would be wrapped in cord or leather but now I only do this if making an exotic hardwood handle. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that a typical medieval sword’s handle was made as a ‘sandwich’ as this is the best method of construction, not because they didn’t have the technology to do bored-through handles. These handles are very durable when wrapped in cord or leather or both.
First I mount the guard and pommel and measure how long the handle needs to be. Let’s say in this case it needs an 8 inch long handle. I take a finished plank of ¼ inch thick spruce (available at most hardware stores that carry lumber) and use a Sharpy marker to mark out the two slabs for the outside of the handle. Then I mark a third slab and divide it in half lengthwise to make the ‘sides’ of the handle. I mark all pieces 1/8-3/16 inch longer than they need to be to allow adjustment; it’s a lot easier to take material away than it is too add material! I cut all four pieces out on the bandsaw, then take one of the ‘side’ slabs and butt it against the guard and use the Sharpy to mark the shape of the tang. I then take the first of the ‘side’ pieces and glue it in place, making sure to fully cover the line from the marking pen to insure a tight fit. I use a cyanoacrilate wood glue for this that sets in seconds. This is the same sort of glue as ‘superglues’ but it is formulated for wood. After it cures the bond is actually stronger than the wood. Once the first side is in place I place the other side against the tang on the opposite side and glue it in place.
Once that has set I place the other side and glue it. I now have a rectangular handle with excess wood protruding from the center. I mark the shape of the handle on this then saw the shape out on the bandsaw. I now have a handle shaped piece of wood with a rectangular cross-section. At this point I square the ends and grind to length, making sure that there are no gaps or unevenness where the handle meets the guard and pommel.
With the handle mounted and the guard and pommel in place I mark the edges of the guard and pommel with a .5mm drafting pencil. Removing the handle I then mark a line 3/32 inch inside the original line to allow for the thickness of the cord and leather wrap.
I start shaping the handle on the Bader grinder with a 60-grit belt mounted. First I grind the corners off so that the handle assumes a flat octagonal cross-section. Then I taper the ends to meet the lines described above so that it will have the right thickness where it meets the guard and pommel. I mount the handle on a ‘tang tool.’ The Tang Tool is a piece of spring-steel cut to the shape of the tang but protruding several inches on either end so that I have something to grip while working on the handle. I then round off the edges of the handle so that it assumes a flat oval cross-section. Finally I finish the handle on the Bader with a 240 grit belt.
The next stage is the linen cord-wrap. I use #7 fine linen cord for this. If I recall
correctly an 8-inch handle will take roughly 35 feet of this cord. With the handle now mounted on the sword’s tang I anchor the cord at the wide end of the handle with a drop of the CA cement. Then I coat about ½-5/8 inch of the tang with the CA cement and wrap the handle tightly in the cord. Care must be taken to insure that the cords are tight and close without any overlap. Overlap will produce a ‘bump’ in the leather cover that could be uncomfortable and would definitely be unsightly. I repeat this until the entire handle is wrapped tightly in the linen cord.
Now it’s time for the leather wrap. I use chrome-tanned garment leather for this. First I cut the leather to rough size and shape. I make this a bit oversize and over-length and make sure that one longitudinal edge is very straight and even. I coat the wrapped handle and the back of the leather thoroughly in Duro Brand Woodweld contact cement and allow this to dry almost completely. I then apply the straight edge of the leather to the center of one of the edges of the handle and stretch the leather around the handle, making sure that there are no bubbles or wrinkles in the leather. I then trim the excess from the ends of the handle and I use a razor blade to trim the excess from along the seam. I often use a line of the CA cement to ‘seal’ the seam and the handle is finished. Between the glue and the cord wrap I have yet to have one of these handles come apart; the cord adds a huge amount of structural strength to the handle. Sometimes I will wrap cord over the leather handle, pushing the leather fully down over the cord. This leaves the handle looking almost like a cord-wrapped handle.
Final Assembly
Finally the pommel is finished to a 240-grit finish on all surfaces and polished as described for the other pieces, and the sword is assembled—done!The final sword (based on recent similar pieces that I have made) will weigh 2-1/2 pounds with a COG approximately 4 inches from the cross. The sword will feel very lively in the hand and seem to weigh much less than it's actual weight as the accelerating distal taper and heavy pommel give it a low Polar Moment with a high concentration of mass around the center of rotation (your hand.)
Finishing
Finally I make a scabbard, then sharpen the sword and mark it with an air-powered engraver. I mark a Runic letter ‘T’ on one side as my maker’s mark and the serial number on the other and it is ready to sell.
I get asked this a lot so I am including a detailed description of how I make swords based on one published several years ago on Swordforum.com. The method that I detail here is entirely modern, but there are plenty of books on the forging of swords.
The Blade
I start the process with a bar of 5160 spring steel. I order this from Pacific Machine and Tool Steel in Portland, Oregon, a good company to deal with. It arrives “as-rolled” which means it is half-hard.
The steel is cut on a Grizzly 64-1/2 inch metal cutting band saw. This type can be used vertically or employed as a cut-off saw. For these stages I use the saw vertically while sitting on the base to stabilize it as I feed in the steel. I use a flex-back Bi-metal blade, 64-1/2x1/2x.025 inches.
I am going to describe making Type XIIa sword with a 32-inch blade but the process is the same as any other sword that I make. I clean the steel with acetone to remove any grease, oil, etc. Measuring the dimensions carefully, I mark the steel with a permanent marker. I mark the tang approximately 1 inch longer than it needs to be—it's easier to make things shorter than longer and this allows room to drill a hole in the tang so that the heat-treat facility can hang the sword vertically in the furnace. The tang will be marked 3/4 inches wide at the shoulder and marked so that the shoulder will finish out well rounded. The tang will taper to just less than 1/2 inch wide at the tip.What I wind up with is an un-pointed sword-shaped flat bar of steel with a tang cut on one end. I refer to this as a “Sword-Blank,” as it can at this point, be made into any of a variety of swords. For our 32 inch long type XII the blade would be 32-1/4 inches long, 2 inches wide at the base, and have a straight taper to approximately 1-1/4 inch wide at the flat tip. The tang will be approximately 10 inches, allowing room for an 8 inch handle.
I take the load of sword blanks Pacific Metallurgical in Kent, Washington, for Hardening and Tempering. I have them use a process called “Marquenching,” which yields the toughest possible structure for this alloy. Most swords I will have tempered to HRc58 to 60. Pacific Metallurgical is very good—the blanks come back between HRc58.5 to 59.5. This is far too hard for a finished sword blade; I specify this temper because I will be selectively drawing the temper through the spine and tang later.
Rough Grinding
After I collect the blades from heat-treat I will select the blade that I will be working on and “true-it up.” This is the final shaping of the profile, where I establish the shape of the point and make sure the edges are straight. This is done on a Bader 2x72 belt grinder set up to run at 2650 SFPM. I will usually use old 60 grit Ceramic belts for this. There is a 4 foot long water tank underneath the Bader to keep the blade cool. As all the grinding takes place after Heat Treat care must be maintained to insure that the blade stays cool enough to not interfere with the temper of the steel.
After the sword is “straight-and-true,” I go to the 2x72 Wilton Square Wheel grinder. This grinder is setup to run at 4850 SFPM. I adjust the grinder so that the platen is at a 45-degree angle to the table with the table very close to it. I then grind bevels onto the edges of the sword to establish the location of the cutting edge. At the end of this process the edge is beveled and there is a flat approximately .010 to .015 inch in the center of either edge of the sword blank.
For our Type XIIa (or any other fullered Blade), the next step is grinding the fullers. Type XIIs have a fuller running 1/2 to 2/3 of the length of the blade. I again clean the blade with acetone then mark the centerline of the flat with the marker. For a type XII I typically mark the fuller about 5/8 inches wide. For this fuller I will install a 1-1/2 inch contact wheel on the Bader. I use the lower speed grinder because the blade stays cooler and at the lower speed, it takes longer to screw it up. Whenever possible, I use a fresh belt for this.
The grinder is set up low enough that I can lean over the contact wheel and see what I am doing on the back side of the blade where the grinding happens. I also direct a light to shine on this side of the blade. I start at the base of the fuller (which usually extends slightly onto the tang as it does on historical swords) and start a fairly deep cut with the contact wheel between the marked lines. I will gradually work this cut down the length of the fuller, trying to stay between the lines and keeping things as straight as possible. At the tip of the fuller I may grind the fuller rounded depending on the effect I want. Again great care is taken not to over-heat the sword by frequently quenching it in water in the long tank to keep things cool.
Once this fuller is ground I flip the sword and grind the fuller on the opposite face. Once both fullers are ground I finish them with a 240-grit belt followed by a 400 grit belt. It is hugely easier to grind the fullers before any other part of the blade and if you screw up really badly you can start over before too much work has gone into the blade. Once the fullers are finished I am ready to rough-grind the edge bevels.
For this stage (sometimes referred to as Hogging), I will be removing up to 60% of the remaining weight of the sword blank and sterner measures are needed. I use a 7-inch 5000rpm angle grinder for hogging, with a rubber SpiraCool™ backing and cloth-backed Ceramic disks. This tool weighs about 15 pounds. I have a special grinding bench for this with a 6-foot board attached to the edge with a thin steel shield protecting the rest of the bench from the spark-stream. I use adjustable-grip locking pliers to clamp the blade to the grinding bench by its tang. I mark the blades primary bevel on either side. I mark from the base of the fuller on one side to the opposite side at an angle so that this bevel will cut well across the center line near the point so that distal taper will be built-in when I grind the bevels on the opposite side.
I start by expanding the existing edge bevel towards the marked line, removing the blade from the grinding bench frequently to cool it in the long tank and alternating sides of the blade to equalize stresses in the material. Once this bevel is established on each side I mark the secondary bevel to the centerline of the sword and grind these bevels. The Type XII has a flat ogival section from the end of the fuller to the point, so after the edge bevels are established I will carefully grind a flat about 1 inch wide from near the tip of the blade to the tip of the fuller on either side.
I then move back to the Wilton grinder and set it up for slack-belt grinding by removing the table and rotating the platen/small wheel assembly to present the 3 inch contact wheel. I adjust it so that the belt is extremely tight. Starting with the blade held at 90 degrees to the belt at the base of the blade I will then smooth out the marks from the hand-held grinder. At the end of this each bevel with have a series of straight grinding marks running the across the width of the blade perpendicular to the long axis of the sword. To create the flat-ogival section of the blade from the tip of the fuller to the point I will make a series of passes to “roll” the edges off between the edge bevels and the central flat resulting in the desired cross section.
Differential Tempering
The sword is rough ground now and ready for Differential Tempering. The blade was hardened and tempered already so this is actually a second stage of tempering. As mentioned the sword, at HRc58-60, is far too hard and would quickly shatter in use. Now we fix that. The idea is to finish with a sword that is still HRc58+ at the cutting edge but only HRc45 to 48 at the center of the blade and through the tang. This yields an optimum balance between edge retention and flexibility/shock resistance. I temper the center third of the blade. Because of the beveling of the edge, this means that well over half of the sword's mass winds up at a full spring temper. To complete the differential temper I use a fine tip on my oxy-propane torch. I use oxy-propane rather than oxy-acetylene as this mix of gas shows the color of the steel better and is enough cooler than oxy-acetylene to reduce the risk of over-heating. It is VERY important not to over-heat the steel as 5160 will air-harden in thin sections—over-heating can result in air-hardened sections which are very brittle and can cause the sword to fail on impact.
I set up the torch and stool next to the long cooling tank with a very bright light shining directly on the working area. Starting at the tip of the tang I heat the steel until it oxidizes to a blue color. On the tang I work in sections approximately 1 to 2 inches long, alternating sides so that I don’t induce stresses that might cause the tang to warp. I work all the way up the tang slowly enough to insure that the heat soaks all the way through and when I reach the shoulder I color that thoroughly almost to the cutting edges. I then quickly cool it in water to prevent the heat from spreading too much.
Starting at the base of the blade I heat the steel to the same even blue color across the center third of the blade, working in approximately 1 inch sections and alternating sides with a quick dip in the water tank between sides to prevent the heat from “bleeding” to the cutting edges. As the blade gets thinner and narrower towards the tip I work in shorter and shorter sections as the heat will bleed much faster through the thinner steel. I work to just within an inch of the tip.
Differential Tempering with an oxy-propane torch
When finished, this type of sword will easily flex over 90 degrees yet the edge is hard enough to shear (cheap) chain mail without doing more than dulling the cutting edge.
Finish Grinding
For finish grinding I once again turn to the Wilton, this time mounting a 240 grit belt. Starting at the base with the blade held at approximately 45 degrees to the axis of the belt I grind out the 60 grit marks and slightly refine the shape of the bevels, evening them out. By grinding at 45 degrees to the 60 grit marks these marks are readily apparent and it is easy to tell when the 60 grit marks are completely removed. The sword is cooled in the long tank any time it gets too hot to handle comfortably so that the temper is not interfered with. As the fullers are already up to a 400 grit finish, the fullers are ready to polish and I leave them alone. The edge also gets thinner during this process and care must be taken not to actually sharpen the edge. Sometimes further truing is needed at this stage and for this I use a 9 inch bench-mount disc sander as the rotating disc at 90 degrees to the table makes it very easy to straighten the edges as needed.
Once I am satisfied that all the grinding marks from 60 grit are removed, I progress to 400 grit, mounting a Silicon Carbide belt on the Wilton grinder. Grinding perpendicular to the belt and cooling frequently I then remove all of the 240 grit marks. Again, as I am grinding at 45 degrees to the previous marks it is easy to see when I have ground enough. At the end I have very fine grind lines running across the sword perpendicular to the sword's axis. Typically the cutting edge of the sword now has a flat approximately .004 to .006 inch across. The sword is now ready for polishing to a bright finish.
Polishing
For polishing I use a 1 hp Baldor buffer with two 14 inch x ½ inch Sisal (rope fiber) wheels mounted side by side to produce a 1 inch wide surface. The buffer is on a freestanding table only slightly wider than the base of the buffer allowing free access to the wheels on either side. The on/off switch is mounted on the leg of this table, so that I don't have to reach anywhere near the wheels to turn the machine on or off and in the event of disaster I can actually kick the switch off while clutching an injury.
Buffing is easily the most dangerous stage. The 14-inch wheel can grab the blade and
“throw” it sideways with great force if you aren't careful. Smaller metal parts can be grabbed and thrown at speeds easily exceeding 100 mph.
I use “Black Stainless” rouge that is quite aggressive. Grinding length-wise on the blade and cooling frequently either in the quench-bucket positioned next to the buffer or in the long tank under the Bader grinder. This rouge/wheel combination is aggressive enough to ruin the temper if you are not careful, especially in the thin sections near the tip. I start at the tip of the blade while I am still fresh, buffing along the length of the blade to remove the 400 grit marks. I then move to the base of the blade and buff there. The ends are the most dangerous so I get them out of the way before fatigue becomes an issue. I work in sections, always along the length of the blade and do the fullers last. Since all the grinding marks in the fuller run the same direction across the blade, it is easy for 60 grit marks to “hide” here, so this are requires special attention. Once the 400 grit marks are removed and a bright, even finish is established this stage is done and I generally take a long break—this is hard on the back and shoulders!
Finishing the Tang
After polishing the edges of the tang are radiussed and the join of the tang to the shoulder rounded. I use a 60-grit belt on the Wilton Grinder to accomplish this using the slack-belt and the edge of the contact wheel as needed. I measure the tang and grind it to length. Then grind at the tip of the tang to produce a section 1/4 inch square section centered on the tip. The length of this section depends on the type of pommel to be mounted. My XIIa's usually have a wheel-pommel so this section is usually 3/4 inch long. I round this section, clamp the tang in a bench vise and cut 1/4-20 threads on the tip of the spring-tempered tang with a hex die. The blade is now finished and ready for a hilt.
The Hilt
I always make the guard first when I start on the hilt. For our mythical Type XIIa let us go with a cusped straight steel guard that flares towards the tips—that looks good on this type of sword with a wheel pommel.
The Guard
I use mild steel for guards, usually SAE 1018-1020. For this project I would use a bar ½ inch by 3/4 inch. First thing is to measure the length of the guard: 7-1/2 inches will be about right. This piece is then cut to length on the metal-cutting band saw. I then clean the faces with a 60 grit belt on the Bader grinder, set up with the flat-grinding assembly with the grind lines cutting across the width of the guard. I then take a dial caliper and set it to half the width of the stock—in this case .375 inches. Locking the caliper at .375 inches, I set one jaw just off the edge of one side of the piece, and the nice, sharp tip of the other jaw in the center of the piece and rake it down the length of the piece from one end to the other, making a nice scribed line down the center of the guard. The line cuts across the 60 grit grind marks so it is highly visible.
I then decide what the width of the arms of the guard should be—about 3/8 inch in this case so I back the caliper off 3/16 (.185) inch and scribe a line from either side—now the width of the arms is laid out. I mark the center of the guard and since the tang is 3/4 inches wide—excepting the rounded shoulder—I make a mark 1/4 inch from the center on either side of the centerline. To do this with precision I first use a center-punch to mark the center. Then set the dial caliper to .25 inch, stick one jaw in the center-hole, and scribe an arc to either side of the center mark. Where this arc crosses the centerline is the spot to drill on either side of the center. I mark both of these spots with the center punch as well and I am ready to start making a slot for the tang to pass through the guard.
I set up the drill press to run at about 1250 rpm and mount a 1/4 inch cobalt drill bit. These drill bits are less fragile than carbide, but much more heat and wear resistant than high-speed steel. I generally use a “jobber short” bit for this—a bit about 1-1/2-inches long. I clamp what will become the guard in a milling vice that is bolted to the table of the drill press. This allows me to adjust the pieces location in two dimensions with great precision. The table of the drill press is adjustable for height so I adjust it to about 1/4 inch below the point of the bit before I lock everything down. Drill presses are precision machines but they are a lot less robust than a milling machine so having everything close together minimizes what little play there is. I drill three 1/4 inch holes, centered on the marks made with the center punch. I use short plunges (only cutting with the drill bit for a couple of seconds before lifting it), and lubricate frequently with WD40™. When these three holes are done, there is only a thin web of metal between holes.
I use the crank on the milling vice to make shallow passes across the webs with the drill bit, taking them down a few hundredths at a pass until they are gone and I have a slot just over 3/4 inches wide by 1/4 inch across that is centered on the middle of the bar. I work this over with files and a carbide burr in the Foredom™ tool (kind of a super-Dremel™ tool with a flexible shaft connecting the hand-piece that holds the bits to the motor) until it will slip down over the tang to the rounded shoulder.
Next the guard is cut and ground to its final form. The arms’ width is already scribed on, and type XIIa's usually don’t have a defined quillon block so I draw a line at each end of the slot across the guard then draw “swooping” lines connecting the tips of these lines to the scribed line of the arm on either side, taking care to make these four lines symmetrical. I cut along the scribed line until I get to the convex “swoop” line and follow that curve to the edge of the guard. It is usually necessary to cool the guard between cuts, or it becomes uncomfortably hot. Now the guard is in its rough form. Using the 3-inch contact wheel on either grinder with a 60 grit belt, I remove the saw marks and round off the corners between the cuts and the flats on either side of the center.
I specified that this would be a cusped guard meaning that there is a high point at the center. I switch to a 1-1/2 inch contact wheel and again with the 60-grit belt I grind about 1/8 inch deep along either side of the center leaving a semi-circular cut on either side of the center with a point in the middle. I grind away the excess material on the arms to either side of these cuts so that the faces of the arms taper towards the center then curve up to form the cusp. I switch to a 240 grit belt, bevel the edges so it won't scrape the user’s hand, clean up the 60 grit marks and polish on the sisal wheel. This steel is much softer than blade steel so the 240-grit marks clean up surprisingly fast.
The guard must be fitted to the shoulder of the blade. I start by relieving the inside corners of the tang-slot to accommodate the rounded join of shoulder and tang. I usually use a cut-off wheel in the Foredom™ tool and files. When this fits snugly against the shoulder I mark the outline of the base of the blade on the guard, and then use the cutting wheel to hollow-out the resulting outline until the base of the blade is slightly recessed into the face of the guard. The guard's polish is touched-up and the guard is now finished. If properly fitted the guard will require some small effort to remove.
The Pommel
Consulting Records of the Medieval Sword and other sources I decide to use the Type K pommel (a wheel pommel.) For those without handy references, the “K” is a flat disc with raised bosses in the center in the form of flat discs. The theoretical sword (based on others that I have made is) .250 inch thick at the base, tapers to .145 inches thick at the tips of the fullers, then distal tapers rapidly to aprox .083 inch (1/12 inch). It has already been noted that the blade is 2 inches wide at the base. The blade has a straight taper in profile to approximately 4 inches from the moderately acute point. This gives the sword blade an un-mounted COG approximately 7 inches from the guard. The blade weighs approximately 1.3 pounds.
Because I like the look of a pommel that has a greater diameter than the width of the base of the blade, this will of necessity be a heavy pommel. This will draw the COG to 4 inches from the guard. I select a piece of mild-steel round-bar stock approximately 2-1/2 inches in diameter. Using the Grizzly band saw as a cut-off saw I'll slice a section approximately 1 inch thick off the end of the bar. As I will be removing a LOT of weight from this piece I've got a lot of leeway on making the pommel.
The first step now that I have my 1-inch thick 2-1/2 inch diameter disc is to establish a flat where the pommel and handle will meet. Some period swords have a flat on the base of the pommel and some don't—I prefer it.To do this I have set up the Bader grinder with the flat-grinding platen and table and a 60- grit belt. Laying the pommel flat on one face, I grind in one spot until I have a flat approximately 1 inch across. The Bader is not extremely precise for this use so I go to the disc sander with the table set at 90 degrees to the disc and make sure that it is nice and square to the axis of the pommel. I mark and center-punch two holes centered on the flat just over 1/4 inch apart, set it up in the milling vice and mount the 1/4 inch cobalt bit. I can adjust the depth of the plunge on this machine and I set it for the depth that I want. As the pommel is now approximately 2.4 inches across from the flat to the tip and I like the nut that secures the hilt to penetrate at least 1/2 inch I will set the plunge to about 1-3/4 inches. This leaves over 1/2 an inch of the pommel solid at the top. I drill two holes right next to each other, located by the center-punched marks 1-3/4 inches deep. I knock out the web between the holes as described when making the guard. This must be done carefully to produce a good slot as tools don't reach very far down into the slot. When finished I have a slot with radiussed sides just over a 1/2 inch wide and 1-3/4 inches deep.
I then release the lock on the plunge of the drill press so that I can have the full 3-1/2 inch plunge that the drill press is capable of. Carefully centering the bit on the slot I drill a 1/4 inch hole all the way through the pommel. Releasing the pommel from the milling vice I rotate it 180 degrees so that the 1/4 inch hole is uppermost. I slide this hole over the drill bit, lower the drill until the pommel is in the vice again, and tighten the vice on the pommel. This insures that the pommel is centered on the bit. I swap out the bit for a 3/8-inch cobalt bit to counter-sink the pommel for the nut. With the machine off I lower the bit until the tip of the bit is firmly against the pommel centered on the 1/4 inch hole, then lock the plunge so that the machine can lower the bit 1/2 inch and drill the hole. The pommel is then fitted to the tip of the tang so that it is snug and the threaded section at the end of the tang protrudes into the 3/8 inch diameter 1/2 inch deep counter-sunk hole. Most of the fitting is done by modifying the tang—my tools will only reach about 3/4 inch deep in the slot but the tang is easily accessible. Properly fitted, the pommel will be quite snug and will not be able to wobble on any axis.
The Nut
Next I fit the nut. I get the nuts from Gus Trim (Angus Trim Swords). I showed Gus this method of securing a hilt when we first met and we used it on the Tinkerblades production swords. Gus and I both continue to use it to this day. Since Gus makes handfuls of these things at a time on an automated metal lathe why should I bother? When I get these nuts they are not threaded or cross-drilled to facilitate takedown, so the first thing I do is lock the nut in the vice and cut the threads with a 1/4-20 tap.
After the threads are started I switch to a bottom-tap to extend the threads as deep as possible into the nut. Then I set up the nut in the milling vice and, setting the speed to 1800 rpm, I drill a hole just over 1/8 inch in diameter through the nut side-to-side to allow a rod to be inserted through the nut to provide leverage to install or remove the nut. I then check the fit of everything by installing the pommel and nut on the tang.
I grind the flats of the pommel to an even 60-grit finish on the flat-grinding platen on the
Bader. Once I have a good finish, I use the dial caliper to scribe a circle on either flat of
the pommel approximately 1 inch in diameter that represents the boss. I scribe lines around the circumference approximately 1/4 inch from either face. I set of the Wilton Grinder to produce a 45-degree bevel, install a 60 grit belt, and grind bevels all the way around the pommels edges to the scribed line. I install the pommel again and test the balance—I might have to change my plan if the balance comes in before the pommel attains its final shape.
It will still balance too close to the guard at this point so I dismount the pommel and return to the Wilton. I remove the table from the Wilton grinder and set it up to present the 3-inch contact wheel and install a 60-grit belt. Adjusting the tracking of the belt so that the belt rides just over the edge of the contact wheel I begin carefully removing material around the marked central boss starting with the boss over-sized so that I can adjust the roundness of the boss and remove the correct amount of material to achieve the desired dynamics for the sword. When I am satisfied with the form and weight of the pommel I will leave it rough so that I can adjust the weight as needed after making and installing the handle.
The Handle
There are a lot of options for making the handle as far as details, materials, decoration, etc. I used to drill-through hardwood handles even when they would be wrapped in cord or leather but now I only do this if making an exotic hardwood handle. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that a typical medieval sword’s handle was made as a ‘sandwich’ as this is the best method of construction, not because they didn’t have the technology to do bored-through handles. These handles are very durable when wrapped in cord or leather or both.
First I mount the guard and pommel and measure how long the handle needs to be. Let’s say in this case it needs an 8 inch long handle. I take a finished plank of ¼ inch thick spruce (available at most hardware stores that carry lumber) and use a Sharpy marker to mark out the two slabs for the outside of the handle. Then I mark a third slab and divide it in half lengthwise to make the ‘sides’ of the handle. I mark all pieces 1/8-3/16 inch longer than they need to be to allow adjustment; it’s a lot easier to take material away than it is too add material! I cut all four pieces out on the bandsaw, then take one of the ‘side’ slabs and butt it against the guard and use the Sharpy to mark the shape of the tang. I then take the first of the ‘side’ pieces and glue it in place, making sure to fully cover the line from the marking pen to insure a tight fit. I use a cyanoacrilate wood glue for this that sets in seconds. This is the same sort of glue as ‘superglues’ but it is formulated for wood. After it cures the bond is actually stronger than the wood. Once the first side is in place I place the other side against the tang on the opposite side and glue it in place.
Once that has set I place the other side and glue it. I now have a rectangular handle with excess wood protruding from the center. I mark the shape of the handle on this then saw the shape out on the bandsaw. I now have a handle shaped piece of wood with a rectangular cross-section. At this point I square the ends and grind to length, making sure that there are no gaps or unevenness where the handle meets the guard and pommel.
With the handle mounted and the guard and pommel in place I mark the edges of the guard and pommel with a .5mm drafting pencil. Removing the handle I then mark a line 3/32 inch inside the original line to allow for the thickness of the cord and leather wrap.
I start shaping the handle on the Bader grinder with a 60-grit belt mounted. First I grind the corners off so that the handle assumes a flat octagonal cross-section. Then I taper the ends to meet the lines described above so that it will have the right thickness where it meets the guard and pommel. I mount the handle on a ‘tang tool.’ The Tang Tool is a piece of spring-steel cut to the shape of the tang but protruding several inches on either end so that I have something to grip while working on the handle. I then round off the edges of the handle so that it assumes a flat oval cross-section. Finally I finish the handle on the Bader with a 240 grit belt.
The next stage is the linen cord-wrap. I use #7 fine linen cord for this. If I recall
correctly an 8-inch handle will take roughly 35 feet of this cord. With the handle now mounted on the sword’s tang I anchor the cord at the wide end of the handle with a drop of the CA cement. Then I coat about ½-5/8 inch of the tang with the CA cement and wrap the handle tightly in the cord. Care must be taken to insure that the cords are tight and close without any overlap. Overlap will produce a ‘bump’ in the leather cover that could be uncomfortable and would definitely be unsightly. I repeat this until the entire handle is wrapped tightly in the linen cord.
Now it’s time for the leather wrap. I use chrome-tanned garment leather for this. First I cut the leather to rough size and shape. I make this a bit oversize and over-length and make sure that one longitudinal edge is very straight and even. I coat the wrapped handle and the back of the leather thoroughly in Duro Brand Woodweld contact cement and allow this to dry almost completely. I then apply the straight edge of the leather to the center of one of the edges of the handle and stretch the leather around the handle, making sure that there are no bubbles or wrinkles in the leather. I then trim the excess from the ends of the handle and I use a razor blade to trim the excess from along the seam. I often use a line of the CA cement to ‘seal’ the seam and the handle is finished. Between the glue and the cord wrap I have yet to have one of these handles come apart; the cord adds a huge amount of structural strength to the handle. Sometimes I will wrap cord over the leather handle, pushing the leather fully down over the cord. This leaves the handle looking almost like a cord-wrapped handle.
Final Assembly
Finally the pommel is finished to a 240-grit finish on all surfaces and polished as described for the other pieces, and the sword is assembled—done!The final sword (based on recent similar pieces that I have made) will weigh 2-1/2 pounds with a COG approximately 4 inches from the cross. The sword will feel very lively in the hand and seem to weigh much less than it's actual weight as the accelerating distal taper and heavy pommel give it a low Polar Moment with a high concentration of mass around the center of rotation (your hand.)
Finishing
Finally I make a scabbard, then sharpen the sword and mark it with an air-powered engraver. I mark a Runic letter ‘T’ on one side as my maker’s mark and the serial number on the other and it is ready to sell.