I saw this text on your page for the sovereign:

Quote:

The deep pommel of bronze is of the wheel type with a recess in the central boss.

Will the cross be steel or bronze? Also, what are the chances of other Albion NG's being retrofitted with bronze fittings (for some kind of extra fee)?

I have always liked bronze and steel together.

Howy,
Thanks for the info. So there's no chance of having a bronze guard as a customization?

Kind of off topic but I saw the torture tests of the Tritonia and I was wondering if you guys did the same to the other two PJ blades? And if so how did those go? Not that I'm doubting their performance, I just kinda wanted to see pictures...

I was mighty impressed with what the tritonia did to that barrel though....

Bronze pommels can be a nice touch on some swords. It is more rare to find bronze also in the guard even if it does happen from time to time.
Bronze has a specific weight of 8.8 grams/cubic cm while steel has a specific weight of 7.8 grams /cubic cm. Bronze also shrinks less than steel when cast.
This adds together so that a bronze pommel made from the same original or mold as a steel one will be heavier.
There is some margin for the weght of the pommel to a specific blade (in some blade types more than others). If the steel pommel is on the lighter side, a bronze pommel cast from the same original carving might be possible.

When I make the originals for the hilts I calculate their final weight from volume, specific weigh and shrinkage. When carving a pommel I already know wether it is going to be cast in steel or bronze.
In some cases it might be possible to cast the same pommel in both bronze and steel, but this will not be a normal procedure.
I do not think bronze versions of steel cross guards will be a common thing to see either.

In most cases when you see bronze guards on historical swords you can tell the maker made use of the fact that he was making a casting of a sculpted original. There might be added decorations or slightly more exotic shapes in hilts that are better acheived by casting rather than forging.
I´d like to use this effect as well when making hilt furniture for the next generation swords. Steel hilt parts should have a character typically resulting from being forged to shape. When bronze is to be used I´d like the character of that material and process show in the shape of the object as well. This is a sublte thing, but adds a nice touch.
Just changing to bronze from steel might not always be a good thing. It generally does not look quite right.

I too like the effect of bronze and steel together. It should be used sparingly, though, or the effect will be just gaudy. On some swords a bronze pommel will be perfect to add that little exta flair.
I also see hilt variations on some swords with all bronze hilt furniture made in the future. I would like to carve those hilts specifically for being cast in bronze rather than using available molds. An all bronze hilt can be an interesting odd variation to a line of swords.

In fact, I am working on an all bronze hilt right now.
This sword is not among the drawings displayed on the Albion page.
What sword it is and on what blade it is built is going to be a surprice ;)

Wow 3% that is pretty low. The Hollow sculptures I worked on were extremely large. When casting a hollow cylinder the circumference shrinks more percentage wise than a solid does so legs arms and torsos shrink more in girth than in length. It leads to tall guant sculptures if not accounted for in the modeling stage. On the smaller end of things I have done jewerly and fittings wax work. If size is specific on smaller part one has to not only consider the metal shinkage, but the Mold shrinkage and injection material shrinkage aswell. I would imagine that your numbers cover overall process shrinkage. Its amazing what modern process can achieve.
I wish it was that accurate in a Sculpture foundry it would save alot of assembly time. Large Sculpture are poured in plates that get assembled like a puzzle. every bit of distortion causes extra hours of hammering bending cutting and chaseing. Somtimes the plates would be as large as 2x4 feet.
As far as my expirience at carving waxes go its nothing special I just use a variety of files and scrapers and a nice pair of dividers for layout. I have a Kerr wax pen with a foot pedal switch for sprueing and correcting messups. I like Kerr Blue for carving and I also use Kerr Aqua injection wax for certain types of detail like dragon scales since it pushes well with a tool but is still firm enough to be handled. I also like to work with Super sculpy for small sculptural items since it has some unique properties including the ability to be hardened. If your makeing a mold anyway it has advantages over wax in a variety of ways. these days I dont have much time for wax work since I have been working direct for my Japanese style fittings which take most of time.

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About 6000 pounds of cast bronze and welded Steel super structure.

:p[/quote]

Ha!

No not that one. Not this time.
That one will come slithering one dark night and bite your nose off while you sleep :D[/quote]

hey, that's cheatin... (just like a northerner too)... you gotta use a target WAY smaller than that...

:eek:

Cool Patrick, awesome bronze-work...

I'm thinkin it would be awfully cool to tun that dino-head into some kind of forge..how cool would THAT be !!!

OK, it's off-topic, but is this the statue in question?

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