I have recently become inspired by Sean's work with lower end production swords and I wish to start some projects of my own. Sean's current type XVIIId project intrigues me the most, and I have also been eyeing that Hanwei - Tinker blade with some interest.
I have a couple of bare blades already but no guards or pommels. My question is, where would I buy these? I've done some searches but have come up dry.
I'm very interested in making my own swords out of spare parts, and I have already built one out of a katana blade, a simple straight guard, and a flat cord wrapped katana - like grip. I like to think of it as a Warder's sword from The Wheel of Time and I was inspired by John Lundemo's Warder swords.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.
- Nathan

Check Darkwood's offerings. They have pommels and blades. No guards listed, but I'm sure they'd sell you what you want.

http://www.darkwoodarmory.com/index.php?main_...1da523bd67

Right now, I'm sold on the H-T bastard and longsword blades. Great bargains, as far as I can tell. The bastard is the more versatile (typical of XVIII). You can plausibly match that blade with lots of hilts from many periods and cultures. With that, a large Darkwood pommel and simple cross you could have a good late 16th c./ early 17th c. sword. Might want to clay-model the pommel before you buy, though. The globular Darkwood pommel is 1.5" diam and 2.5" tall. Don't know about the others. Their barrel is probably a good size.

Also, the more of this you do, the more stuff you'll have to work with. Deal Of The Day swords are a good source for blades and hilts that can be stripped, set aside and mixed & matched later. The furniture tends to be overbuilt, so all you have to do is remove material with files or grinder. Watch the Marketplace, too. I've had great luck there.

Excellent, thank you! I had not thought of modeling it in clay before, but now it seems like a very good idea. I'm really glad that H-T blade is a good one, I've been wanting to use it for a project ever since Kult of Athena started selling them. I'll check out Darkwood, the Marketplace and the Deal of the Day for some good parts.

Thanks again, Sean, I really love your projects.

It's my pleasure. Yeah, I've become a fan of my bag of filthy Sculpey. It's a painless way to make mistakes. Typical use--I rolled out some of it on my table, then traced around a spare cross with a craft knife to quickly make a flexible facsimile. Used that to make sure the steel cross is long enough to bend the way I want it to. Same with that globular Darkwood pommel, though obviously there's more guesswork when the original isn't in front of you. Saved myself ~$30 with that quick exercise alone. :D

Hi Nathan,

I'm constantly looking for such things too, and guys, I am also very tempted by a tinker hanwei blade as well, especially because they are branded hanwei, and well distributed in Europe (they can come cheap, unlike windlass blades).But I have two scabbards, a full dagger revamp and a ballock dagger to assemble...and no time to do any of it lately...so I guess I'll wait!)

Anyway, I recently found this website that you might want to check, they have very nice looking cast brass pommels and guards:

http://www.medieval-fightclub.com/categories/...;-Pommels/

Cheers,

Julien

Nathan, if you are interested, I'm selling Windlass Sword of Granson brass fittings. Very nice fittings but I don't need them as I used the blade for my baskethilt custom project.

i don't know about stock but your local machinist could do most designs pretty easily if you wanted custom work, or find a blacksmith/bladesmith, theres more of us now than there have been since the late 1800s.

Julien,
Thanks for the link, they have a really good selection and the prices look good! I will bookmark it immediately.

Luka,
I do like the crossguard on the Sword of Granson, but I'm only compiling a list of different vendors right now until I can get some more cash in my Sword Fund. I will definitely keep it in mind though, it's a good piece.

Liam,
I currently know of only one guy around here that could do that, and unfortunately he went back to being a full time lawyer to pay the bills, which is really too bad because he's a great blacksmith.

Thanks for the links and suggestions, they really do help. I'm probably not going to be starting a project until a few months have passed, when I have more cash. Right now all of my available funds go into the bank for college and a car, among other things. Don't you just hate it when things get in the way of swords? ;)

Chevalier D'Auvergne has also some guards and pommels. I have bought some of those and the guards are steel, not brass and well made. They also have steel pommels, with standard 6 mm thread.

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http://www.chevalierdauvergne.com/

Darkwood Armory does make custom hilts, I've ordered from them before. For "off the shelf" parts, Alchem makes hilts, their baskets can be over sized and a little soft, but they are a good price. Also, Albion is doing their Moat Sale right now, I just picked up a piece from them.

The Sword Buyer's Guide form has a sticky on the subject:

http://sbgswordforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?...read=14090

Just a quick community service announcement: I ordered two Alchem pommels on 19 November, and it took until 10 Jan for them to arrive. Folks here had mentioned they can take a while and we did have the holiday season in the middle ... but you may want to order from them quite some time in advance!

In terms of quality, *both* pommels were drilled off-centre, both obviously so to the naked eye. Given that this is a pretty straightforward operation, I'm not impressed. With quality control this poor, I personally would have preferred to have drilled and tapped them myself.

Anyway, just thought I'd follow Nathan's frequent gentle reminders about the need for us to continually call for quality products and service.

I'm sorry to hear that about Alchem. The wait is typical, but there should at least be quality product at the end. You might be able to correct the off-center shaft by drilling on an angle when you drill through. That way at least the peen would be centered.

I opened this thread a few days ago:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=29763

You can order machined hardware for your sword from Yeshua's Sword; the cost of the work is dependent on its complexity:

http://yeshuas-sword.com/sword_hilt_parts.html

I just saw that Bractea are offering pommels and guards: http://bractea.freha.pl/weapon_1.html

Oh for the love of God (pick one....)

The very best place to get items of this ilk is Yeshua's Sword (http://www.yeshuas-sword.com/). Ernie is a STUNNING machinist, who also happens to "get" swords, and is a total artisan. His skill is frightening, his work impeccable, and you're going to have to wait in line.... he's very overworked.

Ernie is equally at home RECEIVING a blade to fit - OR? If you have a degree of skill, can work with micrometer measurements of your blade. This adan is one of the principal artists of our time - I can't recommend him enough.