[Radovan Geist]

At the end of the last year, I have bought three sharp A&A blades from a member of this forum. I have never done a sharp sword project, so I decided to give it a go.
I need to say that the A&A blades were perfect: excellent geometry, well-sharped, etc. They were far above my amateurish skills but whatever, it´s just a hobby, so I gave it a start:)

First two swords were inspired by swords from the Fricker catalogues, dated to the end of the 15th century. The first one I´ve made had a simple crossguard, slightly S-curved, and the pear-shaped octagonal pommel.

Here´s the crossguard rough-cut (the pommel on the picture was not used for this sword):


The crossguard was shaped and set on the blade. You can see the pommel turned on a lathe, with markings:



The pommel was shaped with an angle-grinder, files and sanded:



The wooden handle was covered with red leather, sawn at the side. Here it is after the final assembly. To be honest, I´m not 100% satisfied with the side-seam and the lines at the handle, they are not very sharp. I was probably using too thick leather.



And the final piece with wooden-core scabbard, decorative risers from 1mm leather, covered with the same leather and a laced hanging system.





All in all, the result does not look as "posh" and shiny as intended, but it´s fully functional, well balanced (POB 5cm from the crossguard) and cuts really nicely (however, here all credits go to the A&A blade:))

[Radovan Geist]

I´ve also started working on the second piece. This time I decided to use fluted decorations on the crossguard & pommel.

First shaping was relatively simple & quick, then it went more difficult: I have spent some 6 hours filing one side of the crossbar:



Six hours on the other one & few more on the pommel (flutes on the pommel were later deepened, I will post some pictures later).

[Matthew Amt]

Well, *I'm* impressed! Yeah, you can hardly go too *thin* for leather on grips and scabbards, in my experience, but that's an easy fix if you really can't stand it. Fabulous metalword! The spirals really lit me up--you've got a lot more patience than I do.

Congratulations!!

Matthew

[Brian K]

Many different skills go into a project like that. I find the leather parts most daunting, myself. Your metalwork is excellent and the overall pieces look great! You can always retouch the wood grip to make the lines sharper, and the leather thinner, as said above.

Plus, you can always continue to improve/file/sand/polish til you are happy with it, by coming back to it later. No need for it to be labeled "done" yet, or ever, if you think it can be better.

Outstanding work!

[Alan Schiff]

Very nice! I especially like the fluting on the second guard.

[Randall Moffett]

They turned out very well. Look like good serviceable swords! I agree with Matt. That some neat spiraling.

For the handle I think you are on the right course. To me Matt is right. Really thinner is better here.

Cool work though!

RPM