Albion type X blade with Michael Pikula fittings
Feb 7, 2024 4:33:45 GMT
Post by pullrich on Feb 7, 2024 4:33:45 GMT
This project started with a bare blade from Albion, type X. High quality at a good price but you get a very unfinished blade requiring lots of grinding for steel removal and blade geometry formation. The blade edge arrives very thick and you have to grind down all that steel without gouging the edge or the fuller lines. I have a little Sears 2 x 42 belt grinder with steel grinding belts for the initial heavy work. I feel lucky to not have buzzed a notch out of the blade or fuller. Then I moved to 120 and 240 grit stones that you can see in first pic for the final stock removal. The fuller also needed a lot of work, arriving with big ridge lines and a few divets so deep from something in production that I couldn't remove them entirely. For the fuller I shaped a wood block to nestle in and then placed sand paper over that.
Riveting the pommel pieces
Once the sword was built I followed the tutorial by Findlithui in these forums. Also Peter Johnsonn's guides for some tips.
Here is the inner layer of wood slats with felt lining.
One of the key tips from Peter J, using a tiny rod/dowel at scabbard end to keep the slats aligned
The two scabbard halves have been formed from slats and here we are adding a riser to be sure the sword has enough room.
Final assembly. It is a nice snug fit, easily retains the sword when tipped over, but draws without much force required.
Leather time! Findlithui's tutorial quite excellent instructions for this. I used light deerskin. You can see one of my leather tools, a deer rib with notches and edges for marking the leather and burnishing edges.
Back stiching a bit crude but it works. The leather was glued on so stitching is just part of the over-build.
Copying a Christian Fletcher design for the baldric
I elected to use a friction fit system for the suspension instead of rivets or stitching. Using techniques comparable to things seen in scandi knife cover builds. The parts hold together with no slippage. You can see I gave a try at design carving in the leather.
I hope you like it!
Riveting the pommel pieces
Once the sword was built I followed the tutorial by Findlithui in these forums. Also Peter Johnsonn's guides for some tips.
Here is the inner layer of wood slats with felt lining.
One of the key tips from Peter J, using a tiny rod/dowel at scabbard end to keep the slats aligned
The two scabbard halves have been formed from slats and here we are adding a riser to be sure the sword has enough room.
Final assembly. It is a nice snug fit, easily retains the sword when tipped over, but draws without much force required.
Leather time! Findlithui's tutorial quite excellent instructions for this. I used light deerskin. You can see one of my leather tools, a deer rib with notches and edges for marking the leather and burnishing edges.
Back stiching a bit crude but it works. The leather was glued on so stitching is just part of the over-build.
Copying a Christian Fletcher design for the baldric
I elected to use a friction fit system for the suspension instead of rivets or stitching. Using techniques comparable to things seen in scandi knife cover builds. The parts hold together with no slippage. You can see I gave a try at design carving in the leather.
I hope you like it!
