I'm curious about how exactly the hilt of a gladius or a spatha was actually put together, but my searches won't yield any good results.

Does anyone possess this information or know where I can find instructions?

Well, assuming you're talking mostly about the first century AD, more or less, my own humble Legio XX site might help:

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/gladius.html

Generally, the hilt consisted of 3 parts: guard, grip, and pommel. Most often the guard and pommel were wood and the grip bone, but all three could be bone and/or ivory, and a few wood grips survive. The guard typically has a thin brass plate set into its face. Like most other swords, the tang ran through all 3 pieces, and was peened over a washer or small brass finial.

Is that what you're looking for? Vale,

Matthew

It's hardly usual or typical, but there is at least one example with a bronze pommel and guard. From a Sotheby's catalogue of December, 2004.

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Pommel

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Catalogue text

So, these swords were put together pretty much like later medieval European swords, the tang going all the way through the hilt and then peened? Is that about right?

Sure seems that way. That tang seems so narrow, too; I wonder if it was like that in its uncorroded state?

M.

My eyes must deceive me, I guess. Seemed rather diminutive.

M.

"Rat-tail" tangs were common:

http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p239/mcbis...fig039.png

The hilt on the right is a complete thin silver sheathing, originally over a wooden core. This illustration is from Bishop and Coulston's "Roman Military Equipment", the drawings from which are available online, put there by Mike Bishop himself:

http://romanmilitaryequipment.co.uk/figures.htm

Valete,

Matthew