[Eric G.]

Hello knowledgable people,

I have been taking some time recently to design my very own sword. I have found some really great information on this site about how to make a scabbard and handle, but nothing so far on how to make a hilt or pommel. Can anyone provide me with information on how to do this? I either own or can borrow most of your basic shop tools, but don't have the skill or the means to "forge" anything.

For any of you who are interested, I am planning on using one of the Hanwei Tinker XVIIIA bare blades with a dark blue leather grip with risers. I would like a cruciform hilt (perhaps an Oakeshott type 4 or perhaps not) and a pear shaped pommel (which I believe is a variant on Oakeshott's T class pommels). I have provided some links below for examples of the pommel type.

http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/ne...photos.htm
http://www.christianfletcher.com/Christian_Fl...testa.html

As always your input is very welcome!

[Isaac H.]

Hello there Eric.I would agree that there is a lack of pommel and guard making info on this site.If you plan on a straight type of guard ,such as the aformentioned cruciform style,you can get away with no forging,but with lots of other manual labor,such as grinding and filing.Find a piece of steel that is roughly the size and length you want the guard to be.The worst part is making the slot for the tang to slip through.For a start,drill several holes in the guard side by side a little shorter than the tang is wide.Make sure the holes are smaller than the thickness of the tang.A drill press is best for this job.Then start with a small rounded file and and gradually file out the slot using bigger files as the slot gets larger.Once the soon-to-be guard fits snuggly on the tang shoulders ,do any shaping you want until the guard's proportions are correct.

As for pommels,it's a similar process;drill,file,shape.It is very difficult to get the pommel to seat perfectly true on the sword without professial tools and experience.The more patient you are with the process,the better the end result.I have also found that it is surprisingly hard to find a chunk of steel big enough to make a pommel(especially the type you want).That beautiful pear shape will take a great amount of time to get done,a Dremel tool might be a very good investment.

There are,of course,other methods ,such as casting ,that I didn't mention,I just wanted to get this thread rolling with a few basics on this seldom breached subject. Besides....it's my bedtime

By the way..I loved your book

[Artis Aboltins]

Ragarding making a hilt - there are several ways, but for the sort of sword you have described, I think that you might find the following "how to?" guide usefull - http://www.yeoldegaffers.com/project_grip.asp.

[Eric G.]

Isaac,

Thanks for the helpful info. I was afraid that the process would require a lot of grinding... I do have a dremmel that I can borrow, but I suppose that I could also look into the details of casting - hopefully its something I can manage.

So I take it that you visited my website and read the chapters I have available there? I'm glad to hear that you like it :-) I am currently in the process of editing it so I can try and get it published. If you send me an email with your thoughts I'd be happy to email you a copy of the entire thing when I'm done with the edits. :-)

Artis.

I have actually discovered gaffer's sight recently. It was his site that got me thinking I should try and make my own furniture for my next sword. Sadly, that site doesn't give any info on how to make a pommel or a cross guard. Do you know of site that gives a walkthrough for that?

[Artis Aboltins]

Eric - for making the crossguard I would suggest to peruse this site - we have a number of very skilled makers showing their work in progress in great detail - both in Historical Weapons subsection as well as in makers and Manufacturers subsection. I am sure you can find something you could use. Also, I would recommend taking a look at http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php - many people who are often here frequent that site and it is dedicated to all aspects of knife and swordmaking so there is huge amount of information that would show you how to do the parts you need.

I must admit that I also looked through the chapters you had available on your site, and it does appears that entire book might provide an interesting read. it is always nice to see when writer is really interesed in things he is writing about.

[J.D. Crawford]

Craig Johnson of A&A has kindly shared his process for both cross and pommel, with detailed step-by-step photos, on this thread that I've been updating: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=21804

[Eric G.]

Artis,

Thank you for the compliment on the book. I am more than willing to extend the same offer to you ( a fellow sword buddy) that I extended to Issac =) Also, thank you for the link. I'll have to take some time today to look over that site and see what I can find.

J.D.

Also, thanks a lot for your reference to the post. I had tried to find one like that myself here but no luck. Some of the techniques look a little too advanced for me (for example, the forge and anvil are beyond my resources at the moment) but there is still plenty there that will be helpful, especially when it comes to making the pommel out of that big chunck of metal.

Now... not to take the easy way out, but does anyone know of a vendor that will sell me just the pommel? I haven't asked any vendors specifically (yet) and I understand that the piece might not always fit, but I am interested to know if anyone has tried this before?

[Artis Aboltins]

You can take a look at http://www.albion-swords.com/moat.htm - Albion sells off some of their less than perfect blades and hilt furniture there, so if you are willing to do some filework/polishing you might be able to acquire a good pommel for your blade.

[J.D. Crawford]

Eric,

I and others have obtained pommels and crosses by 1) asking for them on the marketplace forum, 2) buying cheap whole swords and dismantling them, 3) buying them from sword makers. For the third , you are more likely to be successful with a small cottage-sized operation and with someone that you have an ongoing relationship with as a customer. Otherwise they may not want to bother with it. That's the limit of my experience!

Good luck, JD

[Eric G.]

Artis and JD

Thank you and thank you for your help and replies. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of the sword project in the next few months.

[Matthew Stagmer]

A lathe is crucial for some to make pommels. I myself have been teaching myself to free hand pommels on the sander from sqaure bar. Just seems like a skill I may need in hurry some days. I have got quite good. Just take your time and take a little off at a time.

[Ron Reuter]

Eric,

I plan on adding my hilt (pommel and guard) project on my website one day (yeoldegaffers), but time has not been kind to me lately. I did post some very minimal directions on another site, and if you are interested you can check them out here: (the pommel on this project was purchased)

http://sbgswordforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?...read=18046

I also have a post here that shows a bit of the above again, along with how I made my peen block.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...highlight=


Hope this helps a bit.

Ron

[Eric G.]

Ron,

Thanks so much for the links. I have actually visited your site a lot and love how complete and detailed your instructions are.