Hi all, I'm after some pointers here.

I want to rehilt a sword which has a hilt like the one on the famous german longsword we all know from the display at the royal armouries and the cover of Arms and Armour of the Medieval Knight. The one discussed in this article. The metal bits of the hilt exist, I'm just looking to rebuild the grip as a learning experience.

The problem is I have no idea how to deal with the wire-wrapped portion.

I get the basic ideas of using counter-twisted pairs to get the nice herringbone effect etc, and I can easily enough build a jig to twist up the wire for me but where I'm stuck is working out how to secure the ends of the wrap. I've done a search on the forum and seen mention of "turks head" knots, but they don't make sense to me in th is context since the turks head knots I know would leave a big lump in the grip.

I'm also not sure whether to underlay the wire wrap with leather or terminate the leather portion just under the first turn or so of the wire wrapping.

Does anyone have info on how to go about this?

Thanks in advance.

I believe Jim Hrisoulas describes how to do it in "The Complete Bladesmith," IIRC. That book should be pretty findable.
You might do a search of the archives here, since I seem to remember Peter Johnsson making some comments on it as well.

Brian M

One way to do this is to secure the wire with small nails.
Tap the nail in almost the whole way, turn the end of the wire once around the nail stem, clip of excess wire and wrap the wire around the grip so you have one or two complete turns. Then tap the nail down all the way, locking the wire securely in place.

This can be done with one single wire and one single nail, or two countertwisted wires and two nails (one on each side of the grip: this is more tricky). Note that this type of partially wire wrapped grip often used just one single wire, not two with a herring bone effect, even if that is also seen.

The other end is secured the same way.

Then take some extra nails and tap them down. They are partially decorative but also helps secure the first and last turn of the wire all the way around the grip.

---

 Attachment: 77.38 KB



 Attachment: 82.18 KB

Drooooool! :eek:
Is the wire-wrapping typically done over a bare wood grip, or with a layer of leather beneath the wire? How much weight would a full wire-wrapping add to a single-hand hilt of say 4" grip?
So basically the possibilities are:
1) Single-strand, wound in one direction around the grip.
2) Two separate strands, wound in opposite directions around the grip simultaneously.
3) Single strand composed of a twisted pair of wires, wound in one direction. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what is used on the sword you posted above?
Are there any period, location, and/or sword-type distinctions between these three methods? Or is the available evidence highly mixed?
I've always really loved the look of a twisted-wire grip. Are there any Norman-type swords with such a grip?

Regards,
Brian M

My jaw dropped when I saw this hilt.............

Peter;

To avoid getting off topic I would suggest and very much like if you started a TOPIC showing this sword in a full length picture.
I think we would all like seeing more and learning more about it. ;) :cool:

Amen to that! Beatiful work!

That sword is stunning...

Al, I remember a thread from last fall started by Kirk Spencer where he did a wire-wrapping on an MRL Irish ring-hilt to make it look similar to Anduril. I looked this morning, but didn't find the thread. I know that Kirk has done some really excellent step by step recordings of the processes he uses during his customizations, I don't know but he may have given a good account of his wire-wrapping. Sorry I couldn't be more informative, might be worth poking around for though...or sending Kirk a pm.

Kenton

Peter,
I misunderstood your first explanation. Just to clarify:
Rarely a single strand of wire was used in combination (alternating?) with a strand of two twisted wires.
Most commonly the grips were two or three wires twisted together and then wrapped around the grip.
Is the Type-X you're talking about the one that looks strikingly like a type-XIV with the curved guard and strongly tapered blade?
My next sword is definitely going to be the Bayeaux. Whether it's totally correct or not, I would love to see this in a wire-wrapped grip. I might even have to do it myself!

Thanks,
Brian M

That is a stunning hilt Peter, thank you for posting that information. I'll see if I can track down some appropriate nails and give that a go.

Well I'm a bit of a wally for failing to use the search function properly.

this thread has the info about the turks-heads.

A bit that had been eluding me previously was the fact that the turks heads are a separate thing to the wire wrap itself. That makes a whole lot more sense.

The idea of using nails is still really appealing :)

after its wrapped ..a lite coat of varnish on the wire... helps alot to keep it very secure and stiff...

Greg