Greetings,
As an incurable sketcher and sword nut, I am constantly drawing swords. I would like to see some of these designs actually in steel someday and there lies my problem. I am not knowledgeable enough to make blades for myself yet (someday maybe) so I plan on trying a cutling project or two in the near future. This has me wondering who exactly out there makes and sells reproduction bare blades? I know Gus Trim does, (or used to?) but I haven't really heard of anyone else.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Nate C.
Hi Nate. Look at the Albion moat sale. W.
For shorter blades, you should see if Atlanta Cutlery has anything that interests you. Their "Arkansas Toothpick" blades will work for some later dagger forms (ca. 1500-1600). Their Scottish Dirk blade might be adaptable to a medieval rondel form. Great prices!
http://www.atlantacutlery.com/webstore/eCat/K...lades.aspx
http://www.atlantacutlery.com/webstore/eCat/K...lades.aspx
Those are both good suggestions. I knew about the moat sale. But I haven't seen anything that really caught my attention. I didn't know about Atlanta Cutlery but it looks like a good beginner's (like I am) site. Does Albion sell bare blades? I seem to remember that they don't sell unmounted blades anymore?
How do the AC Katana blades rate? They seem a little to inexpensive to be true.
Regards,
Nate
How do the AC Katana blades rate? They seem a little to inexpensive to be true.
Regards,
Nate
Hey Nate!
Ollin Sword Design has a Custom Shop that might be able to create some of your designs wither it is just the bare blade or fully assembled. We've worked on pieces that have come in from just vague verbal descriptions to detailed sketches in a variety of different styles. Here is the link to our Custom Shop.
http://ollinsworddesign.com/osd-custom.html
As always if you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
Best,
Ollin Sword Design has a Custom Shop that might be able to create some of your designs wither it is just the bare blade or fully assembled. We've worked on pieces that have come in from just vague verbal descriptions to detailed sketches in a variety of different styles. Here is the link to our Custom Shop.
http://ollinsworddesign.com/osd-custom.html
As always if you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
Best,
I just checked out Atlanta's dagger blades. The Arkansas toothpick blades have a major problem in that they use welded-on rat-tail tangs. If I was doing the project I'd saw the rat-tail off and grind the blade shoulder forward. But then, for this price that's a heck of a lot of trouble, and you're shortening the blade by 3-4 inches. I'd look elsewhere.
Brian M
Brian M
| Brian M wrote: |
| I just checked out Atlanta's dagger blades. The Arkansas toothpick blades have a major problem in that they use welded-on rat-tail tangs. |
If that's true, it's a very recent development. I bought two of those this year and both have very stout, smoothly-tapered tangs made of a piece with the blade. No welds at all. Also, having driven one of these blades deep into a hardwood stump with a hammer, I can vouch for their stability. Moreover, these tangs are more robust than what I'm seeing on some historic blades.
Where did you see that these have welded rattail tangs? The photos on the AC site are very, very low res, by the way, and one should keep in mind when viewing them that the tangs of these blades are ground and polished for an inch or so above the shoulder and are unpolished from that point up. In the photos at AC, the transition between the polished and unpolished parts may look like a join, and the dark metal of the upper part may give the tang the appearance of a sudden narrowing. Neither is the case in the pieces I own. I have found these blades to be great values.
I'll stand by my original recommendation unless somebody can produce evidence that Windlass Steelcrafts has radically altered their production standards for these blades.
Last edited by Sean Flynt on Thu 10 Nov, 2005 6:45 am; edited 1 time in total
| Sean Flynt wrote: |
| If that's true, its a very recent development. I bought two of those this year and both have very stout, smoothly-tapered tangs made of a piece with the blade. No welds at all. Also, having driven one of these blades deep into a hardwood stump with a hammer, I can vouch for their stability. Moreover, these tangs are more robust than what I'm seeing on some historic blades.
Where did you see that these have welded rattail tangs? The photos on the AC site are very, very low res, by the way, and one should keep in mind when viewing them that the tangs of these blades are ground and polished for an inch or so above the shoulder and are unpolished from that point up. In the photos at AC, the transition between the polished and unpolished parts may look like a join, and the dark metal of the upper part may give the tang the appearance of a sudden narrowing. Neither is the case in the pieces I own. I have found these blades to be great values. I'll stand by my original recommendation unless somebody can produce evidence that Windlass Steelcrafts has radically altered their production standards for these blades. |
Quoting Atlanta Cutlery's description under the 12" model: "High Carbon blade is 1 3/4" wide x 3/16" thick with a round tang over 7" long." Why would anyone bother making a round-section tang if it was integral to the rest of the blade?
Of course it doesn't explicitly say "rat-tail tang" but "round tang" seems a little suspicious to me. Admittedly the low quality pics are hard to make certain judgments from, but look at the 8" model. There appears to be a "shoulder" where the "flat-appearing" part of the tang meets the unpolished, "round-appearing" part of the tang. Looks like a rat-tail tang construction to me.
The tang ultimately tapers to a round section, but is of rectangular section for most of its length. The tang is made extra long and must be cut off for most hilt applications, so the roundest part of the tang isn't even used for some projects. On my current project, the end of the tang will be of rounded rectangular section but the tang of my dudgeon dagger, is slightly longer tang and of round section at the peen. Why a round section at all? Most likely because some people thread the tang and use a pommel nut to secure the assembly, and the more rounded section facilitates that construction. But the round section of the upper end of the tang doesn't make this a rat tail tang, and I must emphasize again that there are no welds on this blade and there is no shoulder between the flat, polished lower part of the tang and the round. I know what a rat tail tang looks like, and this is not a rat tail tang. Did I mention that this is not a rat tail tang? :lol:
I think the current AC photos are to blame for this problem. Here are some better photos of both 12" and 8" blades:
Attachment: 7.49 KB
Attachment: 5.52 KB
I think the current AC photos are to blame for this problem. Here are some better photos of both 12" and 8" blades:
Attachment: 7.49 KB Attachment: 5.52 KBFinally, compare the Windlass tangs to the tang of this historic blade:
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