I am very fortunate to have recently seen my finances improve, but for a while, I had virtually no money at all. So I had to find creative ways to get my sword fix. Mostly, I bought old, broken, or low quality swords and used the parts to make better swords. Actually, they are some of my favorites, even compared to decent quality production swords I have owned.

Has anyone else done this type of low budget sword making? Post your pictures!

here's a shot of mine, i'll add some details in a minute:

from the top; bar mace, katana, colonial saber, naval officer's sword, scottish baskethilt, grossemesser, naval hanger

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detail of baskethilt. blade 30", POB 4", overall 36.5" weight ~2.25 lb

blade came from an old windlass sword whose welded tang had broken off. I sawed in a new tang, annealed it on my stove, and fitted it to a $5 brass basket from the flea market. I added a mild steel thumb ring and wrapped the grip with chamois and brass wire. I do 90% of my work with no power tools, owing to not having any :)

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detail of grossemesser and hanger

messer: blade 28.5", POB 6.5", overall 37" weight ~1.75 lb

hanger: blade 26", POB 6", overall 32", weight ~1.25 lb

messer is a sharpened and re-tipped ren faire beater which had a wide tang. I built a sandwich handle out of oak and mild steel, rivetted with brass nail hammered into rivets. if the picture were better, you'd be able to see the snarling cat's face on the pommel plate

hanger is from a windlass confederate cavalry saber that had had the tip burned by someone trying to power grind it. I cut it down and sharpened on a new tip. the remains of the tip are waiting to be a byknife blade. I did some knotwork, covering the hilt with grapevined whipping twine, both to decorate it authentically and to improve the feel of the hilt.

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details of colonial saber and naval officer's sword

saber: blade 30", POB 7.5", overall 35.5", weight ~1.5 lb

officer's sword: blade 31", POB 3", overall 36", weight ~1 lb

these two share a heritage. the guard of the saber is made from a used hutton saber from hanwei that I saved up to buy for $45, the blade of the hutton went to the officer's sword, after being sharpened.

the saber has a cherry wood handle finished in beeswax, with a leather pad under the steel bell guard. The blade is the $40 Windlass "modern katana blade" which I reprofiled to remove ~ .25" of width and ground in a false edge. the ricasso comes from the blade being 28" long, and me wanting a 30" blade, so I used part of the katana's tang as a ricasso. this is one of my favorite swords I have ever held, and it cuts, not surprisingly, like a katana :)

the officer's sword uses a guard from a very cheap confederate saber replica which i reshaped and engraved with a naval theme (as well as removing the "CS") the grip is a not-very convincing fake sharkskin that still manages to feel nice. this sword feels like a fencing foil, but still cuts. it is my "Lady Vivamus" impression.

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bar mace and katana details

bar mace: blade 22", POB 3.5" overall 36", weight ~4 lb

katana: blade 28", POB 4", overall 39", weight ~2.5 lb

Bar mace is a bar of mild steel with a sewn leather handle and cord risers and overlays. It can literally crush anything you put in front of it. I am always amazed at how destructive this thing is, and how easy to make. In practice, it weilds like a sword, but hits like a mace.

the katana is made form the plain carbon steel blade that's still $20 at Kult of Athena, and the fittings and saya of a hanwei practical katana that I broke long ago. I made the hilt from oak and used a different wrapping pattern than the katana originally had. It cuts amazingly well with the longer hilt.

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Good work. I especially like the baskethilt. Which Windlass blade was that?

Thanks!

It actually was a baskethilt blade. I got it at a highland games from someone who wanted to get a few dollars for what he saw as a useless, broken blade. I got the basket too, but it's chrome plated, and way too big for my hand, so I haven't used it yet. The basket on the sword i made fits me like a glove.