|
Post by brotherbanzai on Oct 22, 2008 0:01:20 GMT
Some of you may remember these two blades from a while back... Though they do a nice job of replicating the video game swords they are supposed to look like, they aren't very practical. They're too blade heavy and to heavy in general. They also got a slight warp to them in the quench 'cause I didn't know I needed to normalize them before HT. I also didn't realize, before I assembled the hilts, that I could have fixed them. Oh well, beginner mistakes. So I know a little more now and decided to make another set. This set will still be pretty "fantasy" in design but will be more usable. Blades not so broad, slightly reshaped, and some changes in hilt design. Here are the rough-cut sword blanks. This close up shows how the plasma cutter is pretty sloppy in the cutting, but far faster than anything else available to me. Here are the blades after the profiles have been cleaned up. More pics to follow.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2008 1:31:38 GMT
Neat!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2008 3:35:04 GMT
VERY cool...can't wait to see these done. The first are VERY nice...I bet these are nicer!
Cris
|
|
|
Post by Matt993f.o.d on Oct 22, 2008 16:29:11 GMT
Very smart shapes.
What about hilt fittings? Same again?
|
|
|
Post by brotherbanzai on Oct 22, 2008 22:44:52 GMT
Thanks Sam and Cris Thanks Matt, I'm using some of the same design elements but changing the hilt parts to (I think anyway) better suit the blades. Here's the rest of the pics of what's done so far. Bevels rough ground. Then I decided to try this draw filing thing everybody is raving about and whoa, now I see. Draw filing is very cool. Now I can get the bevels nice and crisp. I started with a couple of big, ancient files an ex-girl got for me at a yard sale years ago, then I went to the hardware store and bought a couple new ones as well. They are only about $8 each. Here's a picture of the little hardened strip I was talking about in another thread. Apparently I hardened a little strip while I was grinding. I thought at first that it was a low spot and kept trying to file down to it. Then I realized it was a high spot that had hardened and the old files wouldn't bite into it and were just skating across the top. I was going to normalize them anyway so I just went ahead and did that before finishing up with the filing. Here they are after normalizing. Huh, that's weird looking. I didn't remove the dark coating on the flats before I normalized them and the blades got this peculiar texture in those areas. Kinda neat lookin' though. Here they are after draw filing with the new files after they were normalized.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2008 23:24:40 GMT
Looking real smooth Brother, nice work.
|
|
|
Post by Matthew Stagmer on Oct 22, 2008 23:51:26 GMT
When I made the first blades they were some of the most fun for me to grind. They way I grind I had to bend my body in all sorts of odd shapes. Love you work here. Looks like your blades would be much easier to use. I also like the back false edge that you added on the top blade. Looks great. Keep it up.
Maybe one of these days I can trade you some finsihed blades for some of your castings.
|
|
|
Post by brotherbanzai on Oct 24, 2008 15:08:21 GMT
Thanks Sam The blades had a slight warp to them after I normalized them so after doing some filing, a bit more grinding, and straightening them, I normalized them again. Still had a tiny bit of a bend so I straightened again and normalized them one more time and they came out straight. I heat treated and quenched and they stayed straight so I continued on with the tempering. Now back to filing. Thanks Matt, Travis hasn't been taking very good care of your blades. Of course he uses them for stage stuff so they're bound to get a bit beat up but, well here take a look. The top sword is the one I made. The bottom sword is the one you made the blade for. I did the bronze fittings and etching and someone Travis knows did his grips. I've polished you blades for him twice but he still keeps letting them get rusty. Same thing here, mine is the top version, yours is below. If you look close you can see that the blades didn't come out quite the same but pretty close since we both used the same pictures for a starting point. We could probably do that, send me a pm if you like and we'll discuss.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2008 6:36:59 GMT
I love the guards!!!!!, along with the swords, but oh man, those hilts are really amazing castings, how were they made?
|
|
|
Post by Brendan Olszowy on Oct 26, 2008 11:11:08 GMT
I love the guards!!!!!, along with the swords, but oh man, those hilts are really amazing castings, how were they made? /index.cgi?board=swordcustom&action=display&thread=6032&page=1 I can attest first hand that BB is an amazing sculpter. Anyone wanting specialised carving and casting done should get in touch with him, seriously. Sword hilts, sculptures or otherwise.
|
|
|
Post by brotherbanzai on Oct 26, 2008 14:02:32 GMT
Thanks thecando I sculpted the originals in wax, then made a rubber mold of them, then cast them in the lost wax method. The link Brendan has posted gives a brief overview of the process if your not familiar with it. Thanks for the high praise Brendan ;D
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2008 22:03:06 GMT
People who let their swords get into that condition should not have them in my opinion. Nice work as always BB
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2008 3:19:12 GMT
I'm really happy for you guys and your abilities but I am soooo mad because I can't find a place to do it in LA. I might have to wait for if I get accepted to Berkley.
|
|
|
Post by brotherbanzai on Oct 27, 2008 23:25:24 GMT
Thanks bloodwraith . Yeah, it's a shame he lets them get like that and the pics don't even come close to capturing all the surface rust. On the other hand, at least he's using them. Hey thecando, just make Friends with someone who has a garage. I do all my stuff in the driveway and front yard.
|
|
|
Post by brotherbanzai on Oct 27, 2008 23:32:32 GMT
Here are the cleaned up castings of the guards and pommels. These are for the serrated blade. The pommel is unchanged from the first version. These are for the other blade. Pommel is similar to the first version but larger.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2008 6:29:52 GMT
Hey bro b,
was just wondering why it is so expensive to cast things in bronze? One of my friends who knows a caster said that the small things are often the most expensive to cast. I always wondered why this was?
|
|
|
Post by Dan Davis on Oct 28, 2008 14:03:11 GMT
Larger castings have BIG access points where you can dump a lot of metal before it solidifies where smaller castings typically will have tiny little sprues and ports.
Bronze does not flow well when molten; steel and silver flow like water but bronze and gold flow like molasses.
Combine the two factors and you can see where it takes skill to get enough mass into the tiny little product before it sets and forms pits or voids.
|
|
|
Post by brotherbanzai on Oct 28, 2008 23:59:00 GMT
Hey bloodwraith, What Dan said. I would add that in my experience small pieces are not more expensive to cast than larger pieces but are proportionally more expensive. Smaller details require more care in every step of the process and gives you less wiggle room to make repairs if the casting doesn't come out perfect. Bronze in general is expensive to cast because it's very labor intensive, requires a fairly high degree of skill or experience, the necessary materials are not cheap, and there's not a single step in the process which is not hazardous. If you've seen my post here /index.cgi?board=swordcustom&action=display&thread=6032 I give a brief overview of the process. Take this little guy for example- I sell these for $75. The original took 4-5 hours to make. The rubber mold of the original took another 5 hours. Each little bronze then takes a further 4 hours to do from wax through the final patina. The sculpting, molding, wax work, slurry room work, metal pouring, metal chasing and welding, and patination are generally all highly skilled jobs. Around here it costs $80 an hour and up to have a skilled technician look at your car, $25 and up to have someone mow your lawn. That makes the $25 an hour I usually charge for bronze work seem like a bargain.
|
|
|
Post by brotherbanzai on Nov 1, 2008 0:16:57 GMT
I'm about done filing and sanding the first blade. Here's what it looks like at this point. Here is the blade with it's assorted parts. The guard has been welded together and cleaned up but it and the pommel still need a patina. The guard will get it's patina before I put it on. The pommel will get it's patina after it is on since it will be hot peened. The wood core will be epoxied on last and be covered with a leather wrap. This gives an idea what it will look like all together.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2008 3:35:24 GMT
Oh wow frog! I love that little guy, it is one of the best frogs I have seen, I may need to buy one of those off you at some point.
Bro B: have you ever tried to cast a blade out of bronze?
|
|