Some antique swords had wire inlays on gold, copper, silver, bronze or some combination on the hilt and/or blade. I've seen some for sale by antiques dealer, and I'm often struck by how shiny the wire is compared to the iron/steel of the sword. I know gold doesn't tarnish/oxidize much, but silver and copper do. I'm sure the conservation process applied would remove active oxidization (like verdigris), but would it shine up the wire like in these pics? Or is that something collectors/sellers do to enhance the visual impact?

Either way, it's cool stuff, right? :)

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Copyright Peter Finer, 2003

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Copyright Peter Finer, 2003

Funny you should post that since I've just been looking into getting the tools so that I could try my hand at inlay. It's nice to see as many examples as possible.
I would think they must have cleaned it off with something. I noticed in "Swords of the Viking Age" that the author mentions some swords being subjected to harsh cleaning methods. I would assume this was by early archaeologists who were a little less careful than they are nowadays.

Later piece, but interesting for its copper inlay and what looks to be gold gilding.

Hessink's Veilingen wrote:

An Extremely Rare German Sword of Justice from the Town of Celle, dated 1643. Cross shaped hilt and large pear shaped facetted pommel. The superb double-edged blade etched with foliage and strapwork and copper inlaid wheel and rope. The wide single fuller is engraved with an inscription related to the function of the sword: 'When I Raise This Sword - I Wish The Sinner The Eternal Life'. On the back engraved in the fuller 'CLEMENS HORN ME FECIT SOLINGEN' and stamped with a unicorn mark surrounded by a text reading 'CLEMENS HORN FIDE SED CVI VIDE', and copper inlaid city arms of Celle. Leather covered hilt. Length 118.5 cm. Note: Swords of this type, known as executioner's swords, always are of very high quality, made by the best of blademakers.

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Auctionhouse: Hessink's Veilingen

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Auctionhouse: Hessink's Veilingen

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Auctionhouse: Hessink's Veilingen

Here are more examples. Unfortunately I did not record the source of these images.

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I know these have been posted a ton, but they are so cool.....

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guess abit off topic but how would one go about getting inlay done on your pride and joy of your collection?

Thank you everyone for posting those images, inspiring work, beautiful weapons.

Jonathan Atkin wrote:

guess abit off topic but how would one go about getting inlay done on your pride and joy of your collection?

From my understanding of the process, recesses are cut into the blade to hold the inlay, usually with a slight overhang so that the softer inlay can be gently hammered so to swell slightly, filling the cavity and forming a good strong mechanical bond with the blade. Because of the processes involved, this would be very difficult to do to a blade that was already heat-treated, because the steel will be almost as hard as the chisels that cut the recess. However, a blade that has a softer back, for instance a blade treated in the Japanese manner, or a blade with a cutting edge of hard steel but a back of softer iron, might be good candidates for blade inlay.
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=12318
The link shows a inlayed blade, along with a shot of the recesses in the blade and the tools used to form them. Note that the body of the blade is wrought iron, much softer than the edge...

As far as inlaying fittings, I see no reason it couldn't be done on guards, pommels, and other non-cutting parts, as long as they are not hardened.

I've seen pieces in the local Historical Museum (Stockholm) with the non-ferrous decoration in a similar "clean" state, so it shouldn't just be something done by dealers to increase the value. I would hope that they didn't need to use anything too aggressive to restore the decoration to this state either. I'd also guess that the more aggressive cleaning methods wouldn't have left the ferrous parts quite as patinated as they were.

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Close-up of a viking sword.

Thanks Chad and Nathan,

These examples are just breathtaking. I have not seen some of these and it only inspires my desire to move my collection to the next level. The contrast between copper and brass/gold on the XIIIa piece is really striking.

So impressive,

Jeremy

Kjell-

Great pic! Do you have any more like it? If yes, please post them!!!!

Interesting, if it would be difficult process if the blade is already heat treated but what if the blade already has the groves of the design cut into it. At one time I was wondering if it would be possible to scrap out the coloring used on CAS Iberia / Hanwei's Mammen Axe and inlay it with silver wire myself. Like using silver solder or regular silver wire. Or would it actually need to bond with the hot metal itself? Just an idea.

Wow, that executioner sword is quite amazing.

I have done some inlay before, but it was with bronze in steel. You can tig weld bronze and it will flow right into the grooves cut into the steel and stick like it's one piece. I haven't done that in a long while though since the only tig welder I had access to was the university of south florida, and I graduated back in 05. I believe you can braze copper and brass about the same way though.

Historically I believe alot of it was chiseled and cold worked in.

And now for something completely...

Shown below are examples as applied to basket-hilts.

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Hi everyone,

Here is a link to a discussion of a modern seax made for me by Tod of Toddstuff. I features some inlay applied to a modern piece. I cannot say how this would look on an aged example but here it is new

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=12318

Hope this is informative,

Jeremy

Due to galvanic corrosion ( http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Corrosion/Cor_bi_met.html ), the inlays can stay fairly pristine while the steel rots away - if conditions are right. I know conservators used air abrasives to clean down to the metal surface back in the ‘70s, here’s an article from Sweden that might explain the slightly frosted look of some of the inlays above –
http://fornvannen.se/pdf/1980talet/1981_016.pdf
;)