CNC longsword project
Nov 18, 2023 2:54:10 GMT
Post by aknoodles on Nov 18, 2023 2:54:10 GMT
Hey everyone, I'd like to share my most recent project with some pictures attached.
First, I'd like to go over my reasoning for choosing this route as you have guessed from the title of the post that this sword was produced in a CNC milling machine. I have been dabbling in the hobby of bladesmithing for about 6 years now and have made a few knives and a few swords but never anything like this. In those 6 years I have spent countless hours on a 2x72 belt sander and I have gained so much respect for the people out there who are able to create something as complicated as a sword, taking into consideration all the geometry, weight distribution, distal taper...just wow. In my eyes, those guys are the true artists. I still have the ambition to one day be that deft with a sander, but having 2 kids has taken me out of my shop more than what I would like and in the last 2 years I have not really made any headway beyond being able to leave a "clean" looking bevel on larger bowie's.
But in those last 2 years, the desire has crept upon me to make what I would consider a "masterpiece" if I was indeed so capable of doing so, but as I said above having 2 kids is seriously no joke when it comes to free time. There is literally no time for anything, so I finally realized that in my true area of expertise, I could make this dream a reality.
By trade I am a CNC programmer/machinist with access to CAD/CAM software and over the course of several weeks when chance allowed, I designed the blade, guard and pommel of this sword. The blade was by far the trickiest as I had never attempted to machine a piece of material so long and thin, and if you know anything of machining, thin parts can be a pain because of the factor of vibration. Vibration is your worst enemy when it comes to tooling and I even went so far as to reaching out to Albion swords to see if I could get an insight to their process. That turned out to be an unsuccessful phone call. The guy was unwilling to share many details (which I fully understand and hold him at no blame), so at long last I came up with a game plan wherein I would capture the sword in the stock and the last op would be tabbing it out. Worked like a charm.
The guard was machined much in the same manner as the blade though I was unable to get any photos of the process. The geometry was a bit too tricky to do an OP1 and OP2 without having to make custom aluminum jaws for the flip side so the tabbing aspect really came in handy once more.
The pommel was relatively simple to machine, and the design came after several days of deliberation. It ended up becoming my favorite part of the sword as it is very unique. (Peening was a pain, however, as trying to get a punch down into the little radius valley was tedious.)
The hilt was simple enough. Found some delrin and did a wire wrap. This was my first time ever doing a wire wrapped grip and I think it turned out okay, but if you look closely in the photos towards the pommel end, I ended up having a little too much gap for my taste.
Designing the blade on mastercam was a NIGHTMARE. I really struggled to create the distal taper but finally managed to get it right and the P.O.B ended up being about 3" from the guard.
Once again, hats off to the folks who are able to do all of this by hand.
The name of this sword is Volkuim and it comes straight out of the pages of the Elder Flame Saga, Animus Void (Vol. 2 of the series). I started writing this epic fantasy novel about 6 years ago and finally drew it to a close earlier this year. It is very cool to see the main characters sword brought to life and have it hanging on my wall. It's like it came from another dimension and into our own.
Please let me know what you guys think of the sword. It was a fantastic process and I enjoyed every step. Looking forward to making more of these in the future.
Materials used:
Blade: 80CRV2
Guard: A36
Pommel: 4140
Wire: Blackened mild steel
Handle internal: delrin
Epoxy: G-flex
P.S. Blade finish is true to the novel. Pulled it straight out of the oil from the quench and grazed off the scale with a scotch bright pad and darkened the bare steel with super black to create a weathered look.