myArmoury.com - A Type XVIa Build

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Posts: 493 Location: Maryland, USA

Fri 28 Oct, 2011 3:01 pm

A Type XVIa Build - WIP

I haven't done a build thread in awhile and this is one that I am currently working on. I should have started this a few weeks ago , but I haven't had much time to post stuff as we are swamped this fall.

I was asked to make a type XVIa for Tim Seaton. I jumped a the opportunity and talked him into letting me do wrought iron fittings out of the same bar of wrought iron that I did RAGNAR's(his custom viking from me(http://imakeswords.com/ragnar.htm)) hilt from. We brainstormed together a little and decided to keep it subtle and sweet and let the wrought do most of the detail work.

On with the build...

This is the drawing that I first worked up for him for approval. he said it was right on but wanted the fuller a tad longer.
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I will get back to the blade later. Lets get on to the fun part.
So I wanted to make the fittings from the same bar of wrought that I made his viking parts from but that bar was just too small to make a decent sized wheel pommel from so i decided to get to forge welding. Here you can see the three bars stacked up ready to be forge welded. Some people cut everything perfectly to shape but I like to leave the bottom bar longer and use it as a handle instead of fumbling with tongs.
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Nobody was around to take photos of me forging it but i will try to tell you the best I can what I did. I simply tac weld the corners with a mig to keep them lined up then fired up the welding temp forge which is a Don Fogg style upright. Once I was up to temp I stock the bar in. Once it started to show a tad of color I pulled it out and fluxed just a little bit. I find that if you flux wrought and plan on etching it later that you will see more of a line at the weld and I wanted to try and hide the weld lines as much as possible. I should add that I sanded the surfaces that were to be welded to remove any rust or dirt. When I say i used a tiny bit of flux I mean that I pinched with my finger and thumb in the flux jar and barely sprinkled on the joints. Thats it. Just so the edges we solid. I knew the middle would weld fine without flux but I needed the corners/edges as flush as possible to save thickness. Then back in the forge. Once to temp I pulled it out and went right to the anvil with a hand hammer. Hit it a few times then back to heat. Pulled it out a 2nd time and took it under our flat dyes on the fly press just to get it nice and solid. It was prob welded fine with the hand hammering but why not use told when you have them.

Here are the pieces after the weld and pressing.
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Here are you can see it after I used 50 grit and sanded the surface to check my welds. Looks solid.
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I then cut the 3 pieces from the rest of the bar and worked it to shape. I did most of it on a sander. Normally we would do this on a lather like we did with the Tristan(http://imakeswords.com/images/tristanfinnal2c.JPG) pommel but I didn't want a perfectly round wheel. I was going for the squat version that I have seen often on XVIa's.

Here it is roughly to shape.
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Time for grinding on the face. For this I use a 2" wheel on our Bader sanders and just work it around until you get the desired shape. I also use a magnet for extra support. Thank you John Mitchell for showing me that trick. Saves you from quenching 1000 times during the process.
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Here are a few pics I took during the grinding.
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This is where I stopped with the roughing.
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Last edited by Matthew Stagmer on Fri 28 Oct, 2011 3:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

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