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Bryan Heff
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 Posted: Tue 17 Jun, 2014 7:23 am Post subject: H/T Bastard with an Irish ring pommel project |
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He is my second attempt at making my own fittings to be used with an unfullered H/T bastard blade.
Roughed out pommel -
Roughed out guard -
Roughed out pommel with peen block -
Mostly finished parts, blued -
Thanks for looking.
The church is near but the roads are icy. The tavern is far but I will walk carefully. - Russian Proverb
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James Cunniffe
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| Posted: Tue 17 Jun, 2014 8:09 am Post subject: |
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Very nice work. Are you going to make an S guard?
Though the pen is mightier than the sword,
the sword speaks louder and stronger at any given moment.
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Mark Moore
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| Posted: Tue 17 Jun, 2014 10:42 am Post subject: |
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That is totally sweet, but it begs for a s-hilt with some carving. A little hammer and file work goes a LONG way. Nice. Can't wait to see the end O' the old Islander!.............McM
''Life is like a box of chocolates...'' --- F. Gump
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Bryan Heff
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| Posted: Tue 17 Jun, 2014 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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I personally really dislike S guards...so I will not be doing it with this sword, not sure frankly I could pull it off either. I am working with very minimal tools. No forge. Its all hand tools, hacksaw, dremel, hand files and a small grinding wheel.
I do of course realize that the S guard is a popular characteristic with Irish swords...but I am choosing for several reasons to stick to a simple straight guard, mostly because its difficult for me to do anything more interesting....
I was going to shoot for a guard with spatulate ends like A&A's very attractive hilt on their Irish sword... but did not make the attempt. Just too much steel to remove with my methods. Cutting thick steel with a hacksaw takes a long time. 
I am thinking a red grip with this...a really deep red grip.
Thanks for the comments.
The church is near but the roads are icy. The tavern is far but I will walk carefully. - Russian Proverb
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Dean F. Marino
Location: Midland MI USA Joined: 24 Aug 2011
Posts: 229
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| Posted: Tue 17 Jun, 2014 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Bryan Heff wrote: | I personally really dislike S guards...so I will not be doing it with this sword, not sure frankly I could pull it off either. I am working with very minimal tools. No forge. Its all hand tools, hacksaw, dremel, hand files and a small grinding wheel.
I do of course realize that the S guard is a popular characteristic with Irish swords...but I am choosing for several reasons to stick to a simple straight guard, mostly because its difficult for me to do anything more interesting....
I was going to shoot for a guard with spatulate ends like A&A's very attractive hilt on their Irish sword... but did not make the attempt. Just too much steel to remove with my methods. Cutting thick steel with a hacksaw takes a long time.
I am thinking a red grip with this...a really deep red grip.
Thanks for the comments. |
hmmmmm - real "Red"? Or Oxblood?  ?
Bryan - not sure where you live... but if you are near any urban areas? Sometimes, one can get a JC, or even a good High School, to let you use milling machines & the like... sometimes for a fairly small fee & a waiver. If that doesn't work... doing about 90% of the rough work yourself, one can often get a small machine shop to do some of the really ugly stuff .
I still kick myself - I had access to a really NICE milling machine in Grad School, and often used it to create small instrumentation parts... if ONLY I had been into sword work around 1978  .
In edhil, hai edhil. In edain, hai edain.
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Mike Ruhala
Location: Stuart, Florida Joined: 24 Jul 2011
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Tue 17 Jun, 2014 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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Nice work! I'm interested in doing a project with an H/T blade too, how did you inlet the guard for the shoulders of the blade?
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Jeffrey Faulk
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| Posted: Tue 17 Jun, 2014 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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Have you considered hitting it with a torch and hammering it out? That might do you some spatulate ends. Granted this is something you might want to practice with a little bar stock before you get to actually working on the guard...
All told very nice work. I am especially impressed by the pommel. Gonna do a bottle-shaped or regular grip? (Thinking of the contrast between, say, the G2 Irish and the Albion Gallowglass)
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T.F. McCraken
Location: Ingleside, Illinois Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 128
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Bryan Heff
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| Posted: Wed 18 Jun, 2014 8:45 am Post subject: |
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| Mike Ruhala wrote: | | Nice work! I'm interested in doing a project with an H/T blade too, how did you inlet the guard for the shoulders of the blade? |
I used a drill press to cut several holes and then a dremel tool to cut out and finish the slot.
The church is near but the roads are icy. The tavern is far but I will walk carefully. - Russian Proverb
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Bryan Heff
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| Posted: Wed 18 Jun, 2014 8:52 am Post subject: |
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Great collection there. Those are the style of Irish guards I do like, that was my original plan here. Maybe the next one I do I will may the attempt at spatulate ends on the cross.
The church is near but the roads are icy. The tavern is far but I will walk carefully. - Russian Proverb
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Dean F. Marino
Location: Midland MI USA Joined: 24 Aug 2011
Posts: 229
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| Posted: Wed 18 Jun, 2014 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Bryan Heff wrote: | | Mike Ruhala wrote: | | Nice work! I'm interested in doing a project with an H/T blade too, how did you inlet the guard for the shoulders of the blade? |
I used a drill press to cut several holes and then a dremel tool to cut out and finish the slot. |
Now muindor (dear brothers) - let's look at this for a moment...
Have you NOT wanted to build a sword of your own? Or at least CORRECT a commercial offering? Well, you CAN. Tools are always a bit of a limit - yet we see a valued board member DOING this...you can too. Please, consider the cost of basic tools - I believe you will see a 100% return within two swords.
OK - bit of a cheer... I'm always impressed by one that DOES - as opposed to one that whines about the quality of what happens to be available. Here is a GREAT project, based on the single item many of us can not make - a bare blade. But we CAN buy these - and we can make wonderful things from them . Consider going forth, and DOING. Tell me - what group of people is more qualified?
In edhil, hai edhil. In edain, hai edain.
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T.F. McCraken
Location: Ingleside, Illinois Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 128
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| Posted: Wed 18 Jun, 2014 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Bryan Heff wrote: |
Great collection there. Those are the style of Irish guards I do like, that was my original plan here. Maybe the next one I do I will may the attempt at spatulate ends on the cross. |
Thanks. I have one more "Key" guard being made right now. A Type XV with a bastard-length tang.
I've pretty much given up trying to like other nationality swords, but, I just can't. I love the Irish, being Irish and having as many Irish styled swords in the collection.
Murphy 
aka "Murphy"
See ya at Bristol Renaissance Faire!
The decisions we make, dictate the life we lead.
"I drank what?" -Socrates
www.celticfuryproduction.com
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Antal László
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| Posted: Thu 19 Jun, 2014 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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Cool project
Did you refine the finish on the blade? In the photos it looks quite smooth. I am working on a H/T single hand sword blade and mine was originally finished with some rough grit stuff. I had to start with 180 grit sand paper to get rid of the deepest grind marks.
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Kevin P Molloy
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| Posted: Thu 19 Jun, 2014 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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Nice work, here is an original example similar to yours.
 Attachment: 40.62 KB
Kevin Patrick Molloy
"The Prince of Firceall of the Ancient Sword is O'Molloy of the Freeborn Name"... O'Dugain(d.1372AD)
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Dean F. Marino
Location: Midland MI USA Joined: 24 Aug 2011
Posts: 229
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| Posted: Thu 19 Jun, 2014 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Kevin P Molloy wrote: | | Nice work, here is an original example similar to yours. |
I love those examples - but never forget....
That guy was killed . That's why his sword ended up at the bottom of a river, or under the soil . Now, could have been a VERY GOOD sword - and perhaps he was unlucky .
In edhil, hai edhil. In edain, hai edain.
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Kevin P Molloy
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| Posted: Thu 19 Jun, 2014 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Dean F. Marino wrote: | | Kevin P Molloy wrote: | | Nice work, here is an original example similar to yours. |
I love those examples - but never forget....
That guy was killed . That's why his sword ended up at the bottom of a river, or under the soil . Now, could have been a VERY GOOD sword - and perhaps he was unlucky . |
Dean, I have no idea what the purpose of your comment is BUT I have to say it is not logical. How could anyone say what happened to the owner? There are many other possible ways it it ended it up in the river. If you are commenting on its effectiveness I would remind you that these swords were used successfully for arguably 2 centuries before the final English conquest and they had remained unconquered for a total of 400 years, despite the norman's and then england's best efforts, so their weapons and tactics had to have been very effective or they would have been overwhelmed much earlier or changed their weapons and tactics.
Another point would be that there were thousands of these swords but none have survived in any collections but we know that not all the Gaelic Irish were killed. So there must be another reason for that, my theory is that it was part of the English attempt at the genocide of the people and the culture after the fall of the Gaelic aristocracy and then accelerating with Cromwell and onward. After all it is a common tactic of tyrants and oppressors to disarm the people in order to enslave them.
Kevin Patrick Molloy
"The Prince of Firceall of the Ancient Sword is O'Molloy of the Freeborn Name"... O'Dugain(d.1372AD)
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Bryan Heff
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| Posted: Fri 20 Jun, 2014 3:56 am Post subject: |
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| Antal László wrote: | Cool project
Did you refine the finish on the blade? In the photos it looks quite smooth. I am working on a H/T single hand sword blade and mine was originally finished with some rough grit stuff. I had to start with 180 grit sand paper to get rid of the deepest grind marks. |
I did some blade refinish work, various sandpaper up to 400 grit. I could and may do more but it did improve the finish from the stock H/T finish which is a bit rough, but at least its an even rougher finish. The picture and lighting make the blade look better than it actually is in terms of the current finish, FYI. But its coming along. The H/T blade is really quite nice overall. I will surely be getting another bare blade, maybe the fullered version next time.
The church is near but the roads are icy. The tavern is far but I will walk carefully. - Russian Proverb
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Bryan Heff
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| Posted: Fri 20 Jun, 2014 4:00 am Post subject: |
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| Kevin P Molloy wrote: | | Nice work, here is an original example similar to yours. |
Great pic Kevin, thank you...I was hoping there were examples of what I was making that were historical and this one shows as you said a similar design. Very cool!
The church is near but the roads are icy. The tavern is far but I will walk carefully. - Russian Proverb
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Bryan Heff
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| Posted: Tue 24 Jun, 2014 12:34 pm Post subject: |
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I think I am done with this project. I darkened and "distressed" the fittings a bit instead of putting in all kinds of additional sanding and polishing because I wanted this to end up looking "campaign" used. I also left the peen in the same condition...not completely blended in which actually could have happened pretty fast with a dremel and paper but again...sort of like the distressed look, plus I am lazy. 
I am sure since I can never NOT tinker with my swords, that one day I will bring the parts back to a more polished look, but who knows. May also darken the grip some....but using it will do that I guess so maybe I need to start cutting more. Some seriously up close and HD pictures showing warts and all...'cause why not. Fun project.
The church is near but the roads are icy. The tavern is far but I will walk carefully. - Russian Proverb
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Bryan Heff
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| Posted: Fri 27 Jun, 2014 11:43 am Post subject: |
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I did a different grip treatment....I like this MUCH better. I also trimmed off what amounted to extra leather down around the pommel.
The church is near but the roads are icy. The tavern is far but I will walk carefully. - Russian Proverb
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This is a standard topic
