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Leonard Falk





Joined: 07 Sep 2016

Posts: 19

PostPosted: Tue 18 Oct, 2022 10:15 am    Post subject: "Pimp my Sword": Deepeeka Hersir         Reply with quote

Hello,
it is slowly getting colder here in Germany again so it is time getting back into the workshop and start a new sword winter project. I have done a few sword "pimping" projects, most of them were Windlass ones. This time I got my self a Deepeeka Hersir for just 99€.

Well, within this price range my expectations were quite low. But after unpacking the sword I must say for 99bucks you get a quite solid piece of a "sword". I just call it " sword" because in the current state and form it is to heavy and feels just dead in my hand (no distal taper at all, fuller is too narrow) It also has a few symmetrical issues like a lopsided pommel, the holes in the upper guard are quite off and the blade has two noticable bends. But the overall construction is not bad at all. I really like that they went for a two-part pommel. Also the tang is beefy enough for my taste. It could be broader but it should do well. Better than some of other makers in this pricerange, for sure.
All in all, not bad Deepeeka, not bad. For 99€ I got a good platform for a sword project.

So, what is planned:
- grinding a propper distal taper
- widen the fuller
- slim down the crossguard
- shorten the grip
- reepeen the tang over the upper guard
- new wooden grip with leather wrapping
- scabbard

I will try to upload some fotos of the progress but it probably will take me a while to get this project finished...But hey. the dark season has just begun. Here are some fotos of the dissasembly.

Stats now:
overall weight: 1432g
blade weight: 834g
pommel weight: 305g
crossguard weight: 279g
lenght: 97cm
grip lenght: 10cm



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Arne G.





Joined: 31 Jul 2014

Posts: 126

PostPosted: Tue 18 Oct, 2022 4:00 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Actually, the fuller width and even the lack of distal tapering was something of a feature of Migration Period/early Viking Age swords. Having said that, I think distal tapering is a good idea, and certainly there would be nothing wrong with widening the fuller - both styles are in evidence for the period, IIRC. I only mention this since it is not really necessary to widen the fuller, even if it would definitely help with the balance, if only to save work.

The shape of the lower/upper guards and pommel are fairly typical for Petersen Type H swords - I would not modify the basic shape further.

If you really want to "pimp" this, I would suggest using a hacksaw to cut shallow (.5-1mm deep) parallel lines on the lower and upper guards, and pommel, and inlay with brass, copper, or silver wire.

Look forward to seeing progress on this!
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Carl W.




Location: usa
Joined: 07 Aug 2008

Posts: 182

PostPosted: Tue 18 Oct, 2022 6:10 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Fwiw, it looks not all that bad to me so I suggest less (work) may be better? From pics...

Unclear grip area needs to be shorter?
A bit smoother (less abrupt) fuller edges may gain most benefit?
The pommel pieces also look maybe somewhat "too angular", maybe just a bit smoother would be good?

Just off cuff ideas fwiw, & can't judge feel from pics. Thanks for sharing & please let us see how it turns out.
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Leonard Falk





Joined: 07 Sep 2016

Posts: 19

PostPosted: Tue 18 Oct, 2022 7:39 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Your absolutely right with the fuller. But I want it to feel lighter and better balanced and with a grinder it's actually not that much work to widen the fuller a bit. And yes the fuller egdes need to be smoother.

I thought about inlaying silver wire. Could be an interesting task. I might give it a try.

Concerning the shape of the pommel and crossguard. Yes the form is correct. No need to change anything except smoothing out the lines a bit. BUT... The cross guard is way to massive for my taste. Thickness needs to ne reduced a bit.

I'll try to get close to the dimensions of the Albion Hersir. In my eyes that's the sword Deepeeka tried to copy, anyway.
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David Lewis Smith




Location: NC
Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Likes: 4 pages

Posts: 506

PostPosted: Sat 22 Oct, 2022 7:47 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

What are you going to do to grind a proper distal taper?
David L Smith
MSG (RET)
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Sean Manning




Location: Austria
Joined: 23 Mar 2008

Posts: 853

PostPosted: Sat 22 Oct, 2022 9:03 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Arne G. wrote:
Actually, the fuller width and even the lack of distal tapering was something of a feature of Migration Period/early Viking Age swords.

https://piped.mha.fi/watch?v=yIIypm61WE4

Nathan at Arms & Armor in Minnesota measured the thickness of the Oakeshott Institute Viking Sword: 2.8 mm thick near tip, 2.9 mm at 70% to tip, 3.1 mm near middle, 4.4 mm at cross. Its not an early Viking Age sword, but its one model to use.

It seems a good rule of thumb that European swords are 2.5 to 3 mm thick near the point, and 1.5 times to 4 times as thick at the cross.

Edit: there are more measurements of ULFBERHT blades in all three dimensions in an article "Vier VLFBERHT - Schwerter aus der Sammlung des Museums für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin." by Ingo Petri. I don't remember where I got my PDF maybe a link on Roland Warzecha's site? The thickness tapers on the order of 0.6 mm to 0.4 mm between the cross and a few cm short of the point.

www.bookandsword.com
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Leonard Falk





Joined: 07 Sep 2016

Posts: 19

PostPosted: Mon 24 Oct, 2022 11:57 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

David Lewis Smith wrote:
What are you going to do to grind a proper distal taper?


I used a angle grinder for the rough stuff. The next step will be using a belt grinder and file.
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Leonard Falk





Joined: 07 Sep 2016

Posts: 19

PostPosted: Tue 25 Oct, 2022 12:04 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Sean Manning wrote:
Arne G. wrote:
Actually, the fuller width and even the lack of distal tapering was something of a feature of Migration Period/early Viking Age swords.

https://piped.mha.fi/watch?v=yIIypm61WE4

Nathan at Arms & Armor in Minnesota measured the thickness of the Oakeshott Institute Viking Sword: 2.8 mm thick near tip, 2.9 mm at 70% to tip, 3.1 mm near middle, 4.4 mm at cross. Its not an early Viking Age sword, but its one model to use.

It seems a good rule of thumb that European swords are 2.5 to 3 mm thick near the point, and 1.5 times to 4 times as thick at the cross.

Edit: there are more measurements of ULFBERHT blades in all three dimensions in an article "Vier VLFBERHT - Schwerter aus der Sammlung des Museums für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin." by Ingo Petri. I don't remember where I got my PDF maybe a link on Roland Warzecha's site? The thickness tapers on the order of 0.6 mm to 0.4 mm between the cross and a few cm short of the point.


Thanks for the stats. Since the model I try to stay true to is the Albion Hersir I chose following measurments for the thickness of the blade. At the tip 2,2mm and at the cross 4,3mm. But I have to admit I am already a little bit below the 4,3mm at the cross, because I widend the fuller quite a bit. The thickness at the cross is now around 4,2mm. The tip is at 2,5 now. Next step is refining the fullerlines with the beltgrinder and then refine the bevels. I will probably end up a little below the 4,2mm at the cross and hopefully around 2,2mm at the tip.
I have managed to grind off nearly 130g of the blade. Starts to feel like a sword blade now rather than a iron bar.
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Tyler C.




Location: Canada
Joined: 20 Aug 2019
Reading list: 2 books

Posts: 160

PostPosted: Sat 19 Nov, 2022 4:56 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Leonard,

Firstly, love what you are doing here, and it looks like you chose a perfect blade to start with. It looks like it has all the right makings of an accurate reproduction if you can just refine the geometry a bit. May I suggest that you attempt to hollow out the pommel some? In period these pommels were nearly always hollow, and I assume this will improve the historical accuracy of the balance. Also, a hollow pommel will put you above nearly every modern reproduction since it is almost always ignored.

Second, please forgive me as I'm about to hijack this thread a little. Several months ago I decided to make a thread where people can post their sword upgrades and mods big or small and I decided to call it "Pimp my Side... Arm". Since then I've been picking away in paint at the image below (adapted from Pimp My Ride) 5min at a time and just finished it only to find out that you beat me to the name idea (or at least very similar). I'd still like to create the post, but I wanted to acknowledge that you were the first, and make sure you are ok with me going ahead with my post. I hope you don't mind, and I hope that you will post your sword on there with details when ready.



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