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Post by crazyjons on Oct 26, 2023 13:30:18 GMT
So I bought the Ronin Alexandria sword from their scratch and dent sale.
As expected it had some issues:
1. Balance point, 8" from the guard. Yikes!
2. Tang slightly bent. Most irritating.
3. Poor shape and texture of the grip.
4. Ugly tiny stainless pommel.
It cuts well, just like you would expect for this type of blade it is absolute Overkill on any kind of water bottle.
Difficult to change direction and stop the momentum after the cut. Hats off to Philip Martin for his double cutting of mats with this sword!
As soon as I got it and noticed the bent tang, I held it down on my workbench and shoved on the pommel trying to bend it back straight. It kept springing back to its original shape and I knew I was in danger of snapping the Tang! Eventually I flexed it far enough that I heard the epoxy crack under the guard. It didn't loosen up at that point so I used it for some cutting and then it became a wall hanger for a couple months, it does that very well! Great looking wall hanger.
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 26, 2023 13:35:20 GMT
Here it is before it went under the knife so to speak. Attachments:
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 26, 2023 13:40:06 GMT
Under the cheap leather was a kind of waxed cord glued down to the wood. It took pretty significant hammering to get the pommel off even after grinding the slots around the tang in the old pommel. IInitially at least I didn't want to shorten the Tang at all because I wasn't sure how it was going to address it. In hindsight I would just grind the peen off next time. |
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 26, 2023 13:47:33 GMT
Like I expected the wood core was a very loose fit and filled extensively with what looks like JB Weld. A gray very brittle epoxy. The fit of the guard was nice and tight, took some hammering to get it loose. Unfortunately there's no radius between the blade shoulders and the Tang it's just a sharp 90° angle. I measured the tang and compared to Specs I found online to the original. The Ronin is barely over 4 mm thick just below the guard and the original was 6 mm thick there. The original was also a few millimeters wider, I'm sure that would provide a much stiffer and more balanced blade if there was more meat at the beginning of the Tang. |
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 26, 2023 13:56:20 GMT
With the Tang exposed I attempted to cold-bend it a little more, but it was very springy and didn't want to take a set. Instead of heating it to soften the steel I decided to make an off-center wood core and drilled the new pommel off center a bit. The new pommel is a slice off a 2" bar of 1018 from the scrap pile. I filed on it in my spare time for a couple weeks before taking it to the belt grinder to make a decent Oakeshott type I shape. It doesn't have the squished look of The Originals that would have had the hole punched through but I'm okay with that. |
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 26, 2023 14:07:55 GMT
Cut a scrap piece of Walnut in half and carefully chiseled the exact profile of the Tang with a slight bias to one side to compensate for the bend. Oh, I didn't take an important pic... I cut off the original thin end of the tang that went through the pommel, slotted it about an inch and welded a 10.9 hardened 6x1 bolt in there. The tang material was hard, hard to grind and file. I am impressed with the heat treat. Some makers draw the tang back down to a lower hardness so I'm not too worried about welding on the end of it. Drilled the hole in the new Pommel a little more off center than I would have liked! Lol And then ground a keyway for alignment and countersunk the end for the new peen. I decided to use a bolt so that I could tighten it down repeatedly with a nut until I'm ready to peen it. |
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 26, 2023 14:15:38 GMT
Mostly done shaping the grip and have acquired a few different kinds of cotton string and some glue and a nice goat hide off Amazon. The new pommel move to the balance point about 4 in closer to the guard I also lengthened the grip for easy two hand use. To be continued... Jon Happy 🎃 slashing! Attachments:
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Oct 26, 2023 23:35:17 GMT
great job so far!
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LH
Member
Posts: 207 
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Post by LH on Oct 27, 2023 6:01:02 GMT
Very nice.
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Post by mrstabby on Oct 27, 2023 13:46:35 GMT
And here I am, proud of making new pomml nut which took waaay too long.... 
Very nice work. 8" PoB for a 3lbs10oz sword, dang. Shouldn't it be more like 4" on the Alexandria? Where do you plan to end up PoB and weight wise?
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 27, 2023 14:01:50 GMT
And here I am, proud of making new pomml nut which took waaay too long....
Very nice work. 8" PoB for a 3lbs10oz sword, dang. Shouldn't it be more like 4" on the Alexandria? Where do you plan to end up PoB and weight wise?
The new much larger pommel and longer tang move the pob to about 4.5 inches. Yes its heavy. Not ridiculous heavy but heavy enough that it probably won't get used much. Maybe later if I shorten up the blade shoulders and get Brave with the 80 grit sanding belt it could become more usable. Everyone has different things that they're comfortable modifying and things that they are afraid of, for me reprofiling blades is pretty hair-raising especially Diamond profile blades. It's difficult to make everything even and nice and it takes a long time to get rid of all the very deep coarse scratches through progressively finer sanding belts. I don't know using the grinder is just not my favorite thing. |
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 27, 2023 14:12:55 GMT
From what I have observed as a brand, Ronin uses good steel with a good heat treat but save money by not spending much time on hidden Parts like the Tang.
This is the first Euro sword of theirs that I have taken apart, but their katana nakago show a similar lack of care.
At least they don't seem to use epoxy on their Japanese swords! Aside from adjusting the point of balance I'm hoping that having a nicer fit of the hilt components will keep this sword tight without using glue. For the record I reserve the right to change my mind about personal glue use! That's one of the reasons I welded a bolt onto the end so I could tighten up the hilt and try it out before a final hot peening.
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Post by crazyjons on Oct 29, 2023 23:11:30 GMT
So there's a better picture of my weld on the Tang, it's a little embarrassing but it penetrated and I think it will be strong enough. Finally said good enough on the Walnut handle core shaping, added some risers with super glue and wraps the whole thing with twine held down with Elmer's Glue. Wrapping the core with string took longer than I expected but was very satisfying. Jon |
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Post by crazyjons on Apr 17, 2024 14:36:53 GMT
Well I procrastinated for a long time worrying about the leather that I had purchased off Amazon and whether or not I had the right glue etc. But yesterday I decided to just go for it and it turned out way better than I expected! |
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Post by crazyjons on Apr 18, 2024 13:29:06 GMT
I trimmed the excess leather back with some sharp scissors and tightened it back down with the pommel nut that will become a peen. Removed the painters tape that was protecting the edge, and me! It's still completely Sharp. Worked for a while with some Gray Scotch brite to remove fingerprints and get a more even finish. I didn't really like the almost mirror polish that it came with anyway. Now I plan on continuing to tighten down the nut daily to compress the edges of the leather under the grip before I get the end of the bolt and nut red hot with the torch and Hammer them down. Jon |
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