"The Scurvy Scot" (or, "The Art of Learning Blind")
Oct 23, 2021 23:17:03 GMT
Post by glendon on Oct 23, 2021 23:17:03 GMT
Howdy ya'll, from the backwoods of Ohio (or as we say around here, "Ahia").
I am Scots, by genotype if not nationality; the practicality of baskethilts appeal to me. I also am a lover of early American history, so while other kids aspired to be Bruce Springsteen or Gordon Gecko (this was 1983) I wanted to freeboot out of Nassau. Hell, most of my cowtown didn't even know there was land between Florida and Europe...
Anyway, I got old, which gave me some available cash and a chance to be 16 again (just wait, you'll find out what I mean. Its all good, except its harder to recover from idiotic escapades. You still do idiot escapades, though.) I wanted to dabble in swords, but lo, there was no good replica for what I had in mind: I wanted a cutlass, with a Scots baskethilt.
Having zero experience with a shop, I scrounged some stuff together and dabbled, wasted good material, made stupid errors, wasted even more material, broke bits and sawteeth and re-invented the wheel at least 17 times, spent money I probably should have given to my wife, drank ridiculous amounts of dark beer, made even more stupid and expensive errors, bled profusely and in silence so my wife wouldn't kill me for being an idiot, spent months in the effort, and swore, and swore, and swore. And I had myself one helluva good time, at the end of which I have this:
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This is a Universal Swords hilt on a Deepeeka 1796 LC, which was amateurishly reprofiled, thinned, patinated and assembled by me. As my grandfather used to say, "She ain't much for pretty, but she's hell on strong."
Oh, the basket has too large a slot for the smaller blade, I used a few grip discs from the angle-grinder as pommel-ettes to tweak the balance, and I scratched the bejesus out of the blade with a sander, BUT:
She has a 26.5 in. (673 mm) blade length, a balance point of 2.5 in. (63 mm), and a mass of 2.5 lbs. (1.15 kg). The blade is 6.2 mm at the base, tapering to 4 mm at mid-point to 3 mm where the false edge begins, and down from there to 2 mm, 1 inch from the tip. The fitted grip is held to the tang by a recessed nut, the hilt is compressed to the grip by another nut, and then a little bit of tang was peened over that nut just because. I used no epoxy, because I wanted my first foray to be mechanically pure, as it were. ( I love epoxy, don't get me wrong.) The blade chimes like a grandfather clock. The hilt liner is wool from an actual Scots Tam. The leather is from my late Dad's sporran. The grip is shaped wood, from the chair I sat in as a 16-year-old kid, dreaming of adventure. This is no $*#@.
Gentlemen, I have no illusions as to where it might stack up in regards to aesthetics and workmanship, but I post this in the hopes others will understand that it is never too late to have a happy childhood.
I am Scots, by genotype if not nationality; the practicality of baskethilts appeal to me. I also am a lover of early American history, so while other kids aspired to be Bruce Springsteen or Gordon Gecko (this was 1983) I wanted to freeboot out of Nassau. Hell, most of my cowtown didn't even know there was land between Florida and Europe...
Anyway, I got old, which gave me some available cash and a chance to be 16 again (just wait, you'll find out what I mean. Its all good, except its harder to recover from idiotic escapades. You still do idiot escapades, though.) I wanted to dabble in swords, but lo, there was no good replica for what I had in mind: I wanted a cutlass, with a Scots baskethilt.
Having zero experience with a shop, I scrounged some stuff together and dabbled, wasted good material, made stupid errors, wasted even more material, broke bits and sawteeth and re-invented the wheel at least 17 times, spent money I probably should have given to my wife, drank ridiculous amounts of dark beer, made even more stupid and expensive errors, bled profusely and in silence so my wife wouldn't kill me for being an idiot, spent months in the effort, and swore, and swore, and swore. And I had myself one helluva good time, at the end of which I have this:
1
2
3
4
5
This is a Universal Swords hilt on a Deepeeka 1796 LC, which was amateurishly reprofiled, thinned, patinated and assembled by me. As my grandfather used to say, "She ain't much for pretty, but she's hell on strong."
Oh, the basket has too large a slot for the smaller blade, I used a few grip discs from the angle-grinder as pommel-ettes to tweak the balance, and I scratched the bejesus out of the blade with a sander, BUT:
She has a 26.5 in. (673 mm) blade length, a balance point of 2.5 in. (63 mm), and a mass of 2.5 lbs. (1.15 kg). The blade is 6.2 mm at the base, tapering to 4 mm at mid-point to 3 mm where the false edge begins, and down from there to 2 mm, 1 inch from the tip. The fitted grip is held to the tang by a recessed nut, the hilt is compressed to the grip by another nut, and then a little bit of tang was peened over that nut just because. I used no epoxy, because I wanted my first foray to be mechanically pure, as it were. ( I love epoxy, don't get me wrong.) The blade chimes like a grandfather clock. The hilt liner is wool from an actual Scots Tam. The leather is from my late Dad's sporran. The grip is shaped wood, from the chair I sat in as a 16-year-old kid, dreaming of adventure. This is no $*#@.
Gentlemen, I have no illusions as to where it might stack up in regards to aesthetics and workmanship, but I post this in the hopes others will understand that it is never too late to have a happy childhood.