Here is a sword that I just finished up and wanted to share with everyone. For this piece I wanted to play with the general blade design of the XIV.6 and XXI.1 from Medieval Records. The both blades jumped out at me when I first flipped through the book and I have been playing around with how I wanted to interpret this design, and what kind of handling characteristics I wanted each to have. I have to say that the end result is some what of a bastard child that the two would have produced. I forged out a blank from L6 and ground it more to the shape of the Type XXI except I didn’t get the width that I was aiming for. I decided to carry on and finish the blade anyway since I didn’t want to waist the steel and I wanted to follow through the entire process see what factors of making this blade would require attention or might prove problematic. I decided to use three different radiuses for the fullers to get the required fuller depth, 4 inch from the base up to about 10 inches up, then a smooth transition to a 2 inch fuller that goes up to about 22 inches, then finished off with a 9/16 wheel. After that there was a lot of hand rubbing to get all those transition lines to blend away. I then had the joy of realizing that grinding the edge without hitting the ridge line was a sort of joy, or pain, or huge pain.
I took a blend of the two swords guards, and once again used a proportion equation to try to get an initial sense of what size my guard should be to fit the aesthetic proportions of the XIV.6. When Oakeshott said “It’s a big sword” he was not kidding. I forged out a blank and started to clean it up on the grinder and I really had to drop the proportioned dimensions so that everything would balance out. I decided to modify the lines of the original and add more curve, which is a characteristic of the XXI.1, however I still think there is a clear relation between the two guards. For the pommel I decided to also make 10 surface facets, however I made the center indent larger from the original.
I decided to experiment with doing some nice risers on the handle, I think it turned out really well, all though not being 100% historical. If someone is interested in this blade but wants the grip to be stripped and regripped plain, it can be arranged.
I had a lot of fun making this blade, despite all the challenges that it decided to throw my way. I will be attempting a full sized version of both these blade when time allows, but that is for another day. I am asking $1500 plus shipping for this piece. Here are some stats.

Overall: 36 3/4”
Blade: 30 3/4”
Fuller length: 27 3/4”
Width at guard: 2”
Width 2” from tip: < 3/4”
Weight: 2.1 lb
CoP: 20” from guard
Balancing Point: 4 1/2” from guard

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

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Hilt

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Pommel

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overall [ Download ]

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Grip front [ Download ]

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Grip side [ Download ]

amazing work i love the lines in the blade well done :cool:

As with the last one. The quality of the work coming from your shop is impressive. I really like the proportions of this one.

Scott

Great work with that fullers, really.

Quite a difficult geometry to produce.

Mike, it is always a treat when you post up a new work, it's always something new, something extremely well done, and very attractive.

I love the double fullers, excellent blade!
You are on a roll...

Impressive work again and very tempting ....... Maybe later next year the financial situation will be better as I still have some projects to pay for, but if you continue making very complex and unique pieces like this there should eventually be one I won't be able to resist. :( :lol:

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys. Sorry I wasn't around sooner, I have been finding a good shop rhythm the past couple of days and two 12 hour forging days have sucked me in. I'm glade to hear that my work is getting some recognition, although I think I may be redoing the grip on this one since it appears a little too bulky. I think it feels pretty good in the hand, but visually it competes with the pommel, and it was pointed out to me that a grip being too large will hinder performance. Never too late to make things better!

Might wait for more grip feedback, could save you work. fwiw my vote is it does not take away from pommel. I also liked the similar risers you put on "one of 8 seaxes". As long as could have been done, & (if) works functionally, nice subtle-enough unique addition. But maybe I'm wierd, get more votes? Until a buyer provides trump vote.

Like the sword too.

Very true Carl, I am going to wait for a bit with doing anything to the grip since I have a couple of things that have priority right now. But in a few weeks when I get caught up and have an open schedual I might consider tweeking out some pieces that are hanging out on the rack that haven't moved.