I recently purchased a blade (nice windlass) from our own Sean Flynt along with some pommels. I wanted to put together a "ren-faire" sword to carry with my kit. I had some folks ask how I made the peen block so I thought I would also share it here.

I would like to thank Sean for his inspiration on many of his projects on this forum. Also he is a pleasure to deal with and I feel like his prices are always very, very fair!

The pommel I recieved from Sean was blackened and the first thing I had to do was sand off this finish as I wanted it be plain metal. I made the guard and peen block from a piece of 1018 mild steel that I had on hand. I used a bench grinder, a belt sander, along with a dremel for tang slot and blade slot on the guard. I finished up with varying grades of sandpaper and a grey pad.

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The above is a picture of the finished metal parts.

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This shows a closeup of the pommel and the peen block. I did cut the extending tang off a bit before peening.

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The above is a shot of the entire sword and scabbard core. (not peened yet)

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This is a closeup of the hilt, the handle is poplar wrapped with pigskin.

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This is a shot of the finished sword.


Below are my steps on how I made my Peen Block.

I start out by cutting out a small square of mild steel (1018 in this case), and marking the center as shown below.

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Next I drilled a hole through the center all the way through. I will be taping the hole, and in this case I am using a 1/4 x 20 tap, so I drilled using a 7/32 bit.

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I then tapped the hole, but I did not tap the entire hole. I stopped near the top. See below:

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Why are we putting threads in the hole you ask? So you can screw in a bolt, and have something to hold onto while you grind and finish the peen block. I used a long 1/4 x 20 bolt, screwed it into the threaded hole, and now have a very convenient way to work with the very small peen block. By not threading the entire hole, you can tighten up the bolt in the peen block. See below:

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Next I grind and sand the peen block to it's final shape. Go slow here, try to keep the angles and sides even, and all the same size.

When you are statisfied with the shape and finish of the peen block, then you can enlarge the center hole to whatever size you need to fit over the end of the tang.

You will need to bevel the bottom of the peen block a bit to fit the radius of the pommel, and you will want a nice deep countersink in the top of the peen block as this will hold all the metal for the actual peen.

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The below graphic shows how to peen using a peen block. Just make sure don't file much into the peen block while you are cleaning up the peen, you just want to get a nice flat top.

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Below are some shots of the peen block itself, on the tang ready for peening (some of the tang will be removed first), and the finished product.

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If you have additonal questions please feel free to ask.

Ron

Looks fantastic! You did a great job.

Great job, those explanatory graphics are also really nice!

Yeah, I have a question: how did you carve that handle and make it look so nice?

Hey Ron,

First class job on that grip wrap and peening...very neat really.

Concerning the peen that's exactly the way to go. I countersink mine with a dremel and carbide cutter though. Takes a couple of minute and you're done.

Cheers, (mounted that way, your sword bears a bit of a resemblance to the Albion Knight, which is certainly a good thing!).

Julien

ps Jonathan : I'm not Ron, but if you want a neat finish on you grip, clamp the sword on a table, and use long bands of sandpaper the way a shoe polisher does. You will get to a nice rounded grip in no time.

Wow, Ron! You've revealed every ounce of potential in that blade and pommel (and then some). Beautiful work and a brilliant tutorial!

I can't see the pictures... :confused:

Good work, excellent tutorial! I am always a bit envious, when I see such good craftmanship. And it always inspires me, to try doing things likewise. Thank you for that :)

Thomas

Thanks for all the comments! I actually got to wear the sword this weekend at the ohio renn festival.

Jonathan Blair wrote:

Yeah, I have a question: how did you carve that handle and make it look so nice?

Well, to be honest with you, this is the second handle attempt. The first one got way too small as I was trying to even up the sides, and got carried away. I used the method on this handle as I describe it on my website here:

http://www.yeoldegaffers.com/project_grip.asp

I think the handle on this sword turned out much nicer looking then the one I show on my website. I guess I am learning :>)

Ron

That is a job well done! Those tutorial pics are great and will help me in my projects, which are as follows-
I am also doing some peening projects. Actually taking apart fairly well made blades that I've had for a several years, but that have the dreaded threaded pommels. The blades are of good functional carbon steel with decent guards and pommels, they just aren't authentically constructed. I will be dissembling them, and then carefully grinding the tang guard shouldering further up the blade, thus shortening the blades an inch or so, and maybe lengthen the handle, unless I decide to cut off the extra peen steel. I will then reassemble them with a new handle and drill out the pommel well to accept the peening, or apply new rivet/peen blocks, and then peening the tang down. Well now that I've explained the project, I was wondering if there are any prefabbed rivet/peen blocks available that anyone may know of?

A great lil article on how to make a peen block. On reading this, one question popped into my mind - apart from the obvious, WHY did some swords have peen blocks like this ? It seems an extra amount of work that isn't really needed ?
My, probably incorrect, guess is this. Over a swords working life, it's possible that it may need a grip replaced. By grinding off the peen at the peen block. it's possible to replace the grip, re-install the pommel, *without* the peen block, and still have enough of the tang left to re-peen the sword. This way you're not changing anything really on the blade or alterening the swords dynamics very much..
Do you think this is a possible reason for peen blocks ?

Yes, that would seem to be a reasonable explanation.

Excellent description!

I think another reason for peen blocks is to avoid hammer marks on the pommel itself (would be practically impossible to avoid if peening directly over the pommel).
And in my opinion at least, peen blocks generally improve the looks (especially if the block is decoratively shaped).

Alex.

Hi Ron I think you should check out Albion's bare blades they look pretty good. I love your work! :