Cold Steel...kaput
May 12, 2008 7:24:47 GMT
Post by Deleted on May 12, 2008 7:24:47 GMT
Too bad I had not found this site BEFORE I bought a Cold Steel Hand and a Half sword. I would have seen the tales of threaded tangs that seem to plague this sword. Well, as fate would have it, mine crapped the bed on me and broke.
The theaded tang broke about and inch below the pommel after some cutting. It was a tough bout, but I look at it this way...if it is a battle ready sword, it better be ready for battle!. Anywho, I noticed the pommel was a bit loose and I cranked it over to the side and it snapped right off. Oh well...win some - loose some.
Rather than send it back I decided to cut off the threaded tang and repair it myself. The fact is, I always felt this one was just a tad tip heavy and had played with the idea of taking a bit from the tip off. This little problem decided the outcome for me.
When I went to work on the Cold Steel I knew I wanted to peen the pommel on to avoid the same problem in the future. I started thrying to work out the broken threaded piece with some vice grips and was absolutely shocked at how soft a piece of steel they had welded to the end of this sword. It was so soft I told my wife that I was surprised it wasn't lead. If they are going to play around with a threaded pommel, they need to at least use something that is tougher than chewing gum.
I cut off all the parts that were welded on and then S-L-O-W-L-Y cut up the blade to lengthen the hilt a bit. I ended up with a 31" blade from the original 33.5" blade it came with. After filing just a bit off the inside of the existing handle and some off the tang, I was lucky enough to be able to salvage the handle and I put it back on.
The crossguard remains the same but I drilled out the pommel, widened the channel for the tang, and decided to modify it a bit. I always thought the pommel was a bit big for my taste and the acute angles of its hexagonal shape seemed a bit off for some reason. I worked it down some on the belt sander before I peened it to the tang. By the way, I found peening hardened steel with my paltry tools to be a tough job. In the end it worked out, but it was a bit of a battle.
Happily, I now have a sword with the same profile (which is what I really liked about this one in the first place) but it is balanced way better than before. I plan to take it out for some cutting tomorrow to see if my work holds up.
Thanks to SBG's customization forum I was able to complete the job...I would not have had any idea of what to do otherwise.
The theaded tang broke about and inch below the pommel after some cutting. It was a tough bout, but I look at it this way...if it is a battle ready sword, it better be ready for battle!. Anywho, I noticed the pommel was a bit loose and I cranked it over to the side and it snapped right off. Oh well...win some - loose some.
Rather than send it back I decided to cut off the threaded tang and repair it myself. The fact is, I always felt this one was just a tad tip heavy and had played with the idea of taking a bit from the tip off. This little problem decided the outcome for me.
When I went to work on the Cold Steel I knew I wanted to peen the pommel on to avoid the same problem in the future. I started thrying to work out the broken threaded piece with some vice grips and was absolutely shocked at how soft a piece of steel they had welded to the end of this sword. It was so soft I told my wife that I was surprised it wasn't lead. If they are going to play around with a threaded pommel, they need to at least use something that is tougher than chewing gum.
I cut off all the parts that were welded on and then S-L-O-W-L-Y cut up the blade to lengthen the hilt a bit. I ended up with a 31" blade from the original 33.5" blade it came with. After filing just a bit off the inside of the existing handle and some off the tang, I was lucky enough to be able to salvage the handle and I put it back on.
The crossguard remains the same but I drilled out the pommel, widened the channel for the tang, and decided to modify it a bit. I always thought the pommel was a bit big for my taste and the acute angles of its hexagonal shape seemed a bit off for some reason. I worked it down some on the belt sander before I peened it to the tang. By the way, I found peening hardened steel with my paltry tools to be a tough job. In the end it worked out, but it was a bit of a battle.
Happily, I now have a sword with the same profile (which is what I really liked about this one in the first place) but it is balanced way better than before. I plan to take it out for some cutting tomorrow to see if my work holds up.
Thanks to SBG's customization forum I was able to complete the job...I would not have had any idea of what to do otherwise.