Joseph E. wrote: |
First Post!
I am nearly finished with a 'stock removal' Latene Celtic sword made from 1/4" x 1.5" steel bar stock. The 'how to' thread from the sword forum is good advice (wish I'd found it before I started). 1/4" seems fine for the tang, as long as you don't make it too narrow. I used a cutoff wheel on an angle grinder to cut out the blank (tang and point) and hours of grinding to form the cross section (I also went with a lenticular shape, with no fuller). As I didn't find a wider bar, I had to go with very little (almost no) distal taper and a rather blunt tip(La Tene III style). My advice with the grinding is to get ahold of a larger grinder than 4"-4.5". I killed mine by the time I was done. Rent or borrow a 9" grinder for the cross section. It'll go faster and use fewer discs. Also, grinding spot-heats the steel rather quickly--a purple color change in the metal is an indication that you've removed some of the temper, weakening that spot. Longer strokes allow air-cooling and avoid overheating the stock. I periodically quenched mine once I was near my desired cross section as well, to maintain/increase hardness. I may even torch-heat and brine-quench the edge, at least on the last several inches of the business end. My biggest problem was peening the tang over the pommel. I heated the tang end, peened it, but also bent the tang inside the wooden pommel, causing the wood to crack. I made 3 pommels before I decided to rivet it on and peen it less tightly. If you're using a brass pommel, you may not have the same issue. Anyway, my sword looks pretty good so far, but as a first try, don't expect CNC production quality. Good luck! |
Cool, Joseph! Post some pics if you don't mind. I'd love to see your work. Also, where did you get your bar stock?