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Nostro Titus
Industry Professional



Location: South Africa, Western Cape
Joined: 23 Aug 2003

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PostPosted: Sun 24 Jul, 2011 3:19 am    Post subject: Scottish twohanded sword         Reply with quote

Good day

I finished this sword a few weeks ago. The blade is 111cm long and 4cm wide with decorative lines, the sword in total 153cm. The main challenge here was making sure the wrought iron was properly consolidated before I slit and drifted the holes for the quatrefoils so that the material would not tear (I had to discard the first guard because of a tear forming along a rather large hidden slag inclusion, problem solved by folding and refining before take 2). The pommel was forged from a solid lump of wrought-iron and a pilot hole punched at white heat from the bottom about two thirds in and then a narrower hole punched from the top to join up with the first. Then a tapered drift was used to enlarge the tunnel. At this stage the pommel was slightly deformed and a mandrel matching the tang dimensions was inserted and the pommel forged into round shape while the mandrel prevented the tunnel from collapsing. The guard was initially forged in two parts, the cross and then the collar with the langets. After careful fitting the two components were forge-welded together. Punching the lines proved quite tricky to do freehand and in the future a guide rod might give better results (at least they look better than a lot of historical examples :P )

Regarding the blade, the ricasso actually played an important part in controlling the distal taper to get as rigid a blade as possible for one 6mm thick at the base and so long. Made me think that a lot of historical examples actually had long ricassos for structural reasons along with the handling benefits. Center of balance is 12cm from the guard and the weight about 2.4kg.

Nostro Titus




Eendrag maak mag ("Unity is strength")
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Bartek Strojek




Location: Poland
Joined: 05 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Sun 24 Jul, 2011 4:50 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

This is stunning sword, at least in my opinion.

I really like the ricasso look.

Is it based on some particular antique(s) or on general 'claymority'/claidheamh dà làimh-ty? Wink
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Steve Grisetti




Location: Orlando metro area, Florida, USA
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Sun 24 Jul, 2011 6:14 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Lovely work, Mr. Titus!
Bartek Strojek wrote:
... I really like the ricasso look.

I agree - the ricasso is very nicely done. I also like the quatrefoils on the guard.

"...dismount thy tuck, be yare in thy preparation, for thy assailant is quick, skilful, and deadly."
- Sir Toby Belch
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Larry New




Location: Central Va
Joined: 31 Aug 2010

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PostPosted: Sun 24 Jul, 2011 11:43 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Beautiful work! Is this piece spoken for?.....any similar for sale?.................Kudos, Larry
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Thom R.




Location: Tucson
Joined: 26 Jul 2007
Reading list: 30 books

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PostPosted: Sun 24 Jul, 2011 12:06 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Very very nice work. the proportions all look just right. I love the carved grip reminiscent of the sword at the Kelvingrove. I also really like the slightly curved cross. Huzzah! tr
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Brian K.
Industry Professional



Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Joined: 01 Jan 2008

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PostPosted: Sun 24 Jul, 2011 12:08 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Very, very nice work.
Brian Kunz
www.dbkcustomswords.com
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D. Swift




Location: Dublin, Ireland
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Reading list: 108 books

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PostPosted: Sun 24 Jul, 2011 3:13 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Excellent job - love the grip - nice langets and ricasso - thanks for posting!
Dave Swift
Claíomh - Irish Living History c.800-1660
http://www.facebook.com/ClaiomhLivingHistory
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Alexander Lambrinos





Joined: 25 Mar 2009

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PostPosted: Sun 24 Jul, 2011 3:22 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It looks great, I have never seen a claymore like that one before.
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Nostro Titus
Industry Professional



Location: South Africa, Western Cape
Joined: 23 Aug 2003

Posts: 10

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PostPosted: Fri 29 Jul, 2011 2:01 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Thanks for the kind words.

Sorry Larry, it is currently residing at it's owner's lair Wink
As inspiration I pretty much spent long hours studying pictures of existing historical scottish twohanders and then spent a few weeks trying to design something that captures the essence of everything I liked about this type of sword. Even after coming up with the final concept sketch I still ended up making a few adjustments and changes to the design during it's manufacture. The final curvature of the guard was actually changed after I started polishing it, I simply did not like the original angle (from the polishing table back to the forge Laughing Out Loud
I was fortunate in that the client did not specify pinpoint details (he simply wanted a sword of this type), thus giving me a lot of room to be creative.

Keep well
Nostro

Eendrag maak mag ("Unity is strength")
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