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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2008 20:11:18 GMT
Ok, well here's my first post here on this forum actually. I've owned a Windlass 15th century long sword for about 3 years now and for the past couple months, I've been test cutting it on milk jugs and water bottles. Throughout that period of time, my sword began getting looser and made that annoying *clink clink* sound from the hilt. Of course, I ended up disassembling the sword and tightening it back up again, and that would usually do the trick for a while until it needed another tightening after cutting bottles with it again. But eventually, the tang started rattling and getting loose just from swinging it for a bit. This never started happening until I started using my sword for test cuttings. So I examined the hilt a bit more and saw that the outside leather had a widening gap. I looked inside of the hilt itself and it had, to my surprise, two cracks in the wood going down two diagonal corners. (I guess it happened when I accidentally cut the lower end of the milk jug and ended up hitting the wooden support holding it. ^^; ) I tried filling the cracks with wood glue and then clamping them for a while, and it kinda worked. After one more recent test cut, the tang once again loosened and the cracks reappeared. >.<; Just wondering if anybody here knows how to fix a problem like this, or if anyone has encountered one as well.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2008 20:28:35 GMT
It sounds like making a new grip core would be your safest option. I'd suggest moving this to the sword customization or sword making section. I'll bet one of our resident smiths or customizers could lead you through the process or give some helpful hints.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2008 20:34:06 GMT
sounds interesting, I saw that section earlier today as well I may think about it, but I've already ordered another functional sword to try out the windlass 15th century longsword is the only functional sword I own actually ^^;
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2008 17:14:21 GMT
I'd like to second Kriegschwert's suggestion of replacing the core grip. I've used my Windlass 15th c. quite a bit and it has held up fine.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2008 19:49:03 GMT
Seems most the Windlass swords will have a loose hilt at one point or another...I have two that need re-tightening...sigh...up to now, no handle cracked thought...
It's such a recurrent problem, almost worth a sub-forum on itself...as I understand it there are three ways of solving the problem: re-peening (for peened swords, of course), ye olde epoxy in the rattling guard trick and the fishing line trick...
Still don't know which one I'll use...or all three?
But, yes, arlion, new handle seems mandatory here...looking forward reading how you solved the case...
Ref
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2008 1:33:23 GMT
well, I'm thinking I'll try temporarily removing the leather so that I can get a direct veiw to the cracks, and after fixing them up with whatever I can use to hold them together permanentaly, I'll just sew and/or glue the leather back onto the hilt
oh, what's the fishing line trick exactly?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2008 2:13:29 GMT
Go for a regrip. Any temp fix won't last too long and you will have to fix it again and again down the road. I used to deal with this all the time and hated it.
This happens with the wood Windlass uses. They use alot of Shesham wood, which is a naturally high moisture wood native to Indoasia. Once its cut and put into a drier enviornment, it dries out too much and 'checks' or develops cracks. You should try a good stabilized hardwood when you regrip it as well.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2008 18:32:17 GMT
I also think a new wood handle is needed, maybe it will solve the loose guard problem by tightening the guard onto the blade...the tricks I proposed are only if the hilt looseness problem persists (the slot that accomodates the blade's shoulder is often too wide on Windlass's swords)...
I also recommend re-wrapping the handle instead of putting the old leather back on...it will be a lot nicer! It's fairly easy, search on the forum engine for the how-to in the customization section.
Brendan gave me the fishing line trick: (quoted)
"Hi Reflingar You mentioned about shimming your guard. You might like to try pulling some light fishing line (<5lb) around the tang and running a few laps around til the guard is tight. You can coat the last lap in epoxy to help it stick in, and then trim it off. You can then maybe use a second piece to tuck the last bit in."
Keep us posted as to how you solved the problem...
Reflingar
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2008 2:56:15 GMT
I have experience the same with my Windlass Classic Medival. The peening job is not very good. I have heard a similar complaint from other people on different swords. I would have expected that they would have fixed this problem by now. It goes back at least 4 years.
Another basic problem was that the grip is not fitted tightly enough over the tang so that the grip rolls over the tang a little.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2008 18:46:42 GMT
Thanks for all of the help guys, I'll see in what I can do for this sword. But for now, I'm going to leave it as it is. Maybe in the future, I'll customize it or something... maybe make a whole new grip core and post it up in the customization section.
About a month ago though, I bought another functional sword from "StrongBlade." I saw the reviews from this site and it came into interest because they seemed to handle quite nicely, and they had a sword at the time that not only matched my costume and sheild, but was at a very fair price. (which is now on sale) I'm planning on doing a review on it in the reviews section and I have allot of stuff to tell about it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2009 21:02:13 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2009 1:12:40 GMT
It's fixable arlion, don't worry. It just means you have yourself a fun project. And in the end you'll probably end up with a better grip than you originally had I plan on regripping one of my Windlass in the future. I talked to Sean Flynt over at myarmoury.com who did a great regripping on his Windlass German bastard sword. This is an email he sent me on the subject...
"If you've never made a grip before I would encourage you to get some Sculpy polymer clay (or some type of non-hardening clay) and make a model of the grip you want. You can just press a big blob around the tang and start cutting the shape with a craft knife. You can add, subtract, etc. and start over if you mess it up or change your mind. When you have what you want (keeping in mind the sizing advice below) you just carve the wooden grip to match.
For the wooden core: Get two slats of oak or poplar craft wood. 1.5" or 2" wide will be about right, but thickness will depend on the size and kind of grip you want. For a grip like the one I made for my GBS, you'd probably want something like a .75" thickness per slat. Just remember that the two pieces together have to add up to at least the thickest part of the finished grip, and probably a bit more. You can always take more wood off. Hard to put it back on. This is the great advantage of that clay model--just measure that and you'll know the minimum sizes you need. Sculpy is pretty tough as-is unless you drop it or otherwise smash it, but if you want to make sure it holds its shape during repeated handling as you work on the wooden version, you can just bake it in the oven as directed and it'll be like plaster (and can also be sanded, carved, etc.)
Cut the slats to the length of the original grip. Mark the center line on both slats. With the cross in place, trace the exposed tang on one slat, then turn the blade over and trace the tang on the other slat, keeping the tang centered on the line. Use a chisel to carve half the thickness of the tang out of each slat following the shape of the tang. You can test the fit by clamping or taping the slats together and sliding it down onto the tang. It should be tight enough to resist in the last inch or so, but should seat well against the cross with some light taps. Once it fits properly, use wood glue to cement the halves together, taking care to align them at top and bottom. When the glue dries, you're ready to start shaping the grip. This is when that bench vise really comes in handy. I typically use chisels first to knock off big chunks of wood (be careful!,) then a Surform rasp, then sandpaper. Remember that if you want leather-over-cord, this wooden core will have to be substantially smaller than the finished grip. Refer often to your clay model. You want it to feel a bit too small before wrapping and covering. For assembly, use JB Weld or wood glue in tang channel."
Hope this helps, and good luck! Cheers.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2009 14:41:34 GMT
Great advice. Many thx!
R.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2009 23:44:13 GMT
Thank you so much, that is excellent advice! I'll do it! I work with Ceramics all of the time and this project sounds too cool. I definitely want to customize it as well in my own shape. Thanks again so much!
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