[Matthew Grzybowski]

Hello all!

OlliN was approached by myArmoury member Jean Thibodeau about starting a custom shop project he had been thinking about for awhile. We are very excited to be working with Jean on his project. He thought it might be of interest to the forum if we post our production of his custom sword. I thought that was a great idea. To get things started, below is Jean’s original email and the photo he sent to us that we are using to start up the design process.

Jean’s Comments
“Here is my idea at the moment based on the Pontirolo and on the SOSM with a different pommel. The grid is 1" per square so the blade would be 3" wide at the base and 40" long approximately. I would like a fairly thick blade at the guard and distal tapering to no less than 3 mm near the point ( estimate at the moment ) and maybe 5 mm at its thickest: This would be much to heavy with an elliptical grind but might be O.K. with a hollow grind. This is just the railroad engineered starting point. Total weight shouldn't be greater than 5 pounds and the POB should be close to 6" and no more than the 9" of the Pontirolo, but at the weight of 5 pounds a lower POB than 9" would be better. Let me know what you think and if my numbers about weight and dimensions are realistic. Oh, the Pommel is of the very fat Brazilnut close to the Tea cosy type I think or one of the somewhat " Lumpy type ". At this scale the pommel is quite large at 3" across and weight can be adjusted by making it fatter or thinner. The grip should be about 4.5" long, grip thickness to be adjusted/ determined. Any extras ? maybe some lines on the pommel and / or guard i.e. light file work and maybe a few letters or symbols in the fuller. (Simple and sober. Fantasy or historical?).”

We don’t always get such a detailed email for custom shop orders (which is always fine). It was great to get such specifics right of the bat!

Where we are at at the moment is working on sketching out a full size rendering of what Jean has requested. Mark and I are going over the specifics and will be working with Jean through this process. Jean has been a saint right now, because we have been swamped with finishing up a couple of other pieces at the moment. We’re hoping to be sketching here shortly. As we do, look for more posts and pictures of this project during it’s creation.

Best,

Matt

[Chris Lampe]

Very cool!

I've been very impressed with Ollin Sword Design's historical recreations so I'm looking forward to watching this project progress.

Keep up the great work!

[Jean Thibodeau]

I' Il sort of let Matt at OlliN take the lead on this one. The design is still in the early stages but I am fairly set on the general look of the piece, I do see were a lot of the design work is going to have to be in making it handle decently as it is at the extreme end of what can be considered a onehander.

One could say that a much lighter and easy to handle sword might be a better choice in a real fight, but I already have a few of those " reasonable designs ! My Sovereign is for example what i would consider a powerful general purpose cut and thrust sword that is fast and agile and would be the least tiring to use for extended fights.

Now it does help that I can almost handle my A & A 15th century twohander with one hand, at least it's no problem in light dry handling. And this sword is 6 lbs. Being 5' 9" and currently 250 pounds also helps.

Now even if I was a light 125 lbs and didn't have a hope of handling a 5 lbs sword I might still want a sword that I personally wasn't strong enough to use but could be used by someone stronger. In the same way if I was a billionaire I might collect jet fighter craft even if I could never fly one being very myopic.

Matt has more drawings from me already that he will post later as I already have some design changes like the hollow grinding on each side of the main fuller being themselves more fuller like and the point only having an elliptical crossection with the 3 fullers fading into the tip.

Balance might be changes a bit to bring the POB closer to the guard: I started the concept with the huge Pontirolo with a POB of 9" but since I am getting further away from this sword I might as well consider tweaking the handling a bit more !?.

Things are looking real good so far as e-mails are answered promptly and the design process is going to be an important and fun part of this project. So dealing with Matt has been AAA

[Addison C. de Lisle]

What program are you using to draw the swords?

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Russ Ellis]

I cannot wait to see how this one unfolds. I can say that I know first hand that the boys at OlliN do outstanding work, and do not get nearly enough press...

[Nathan Robinson]

[Russ Ellis]

[Jeremy V. Krause]

Jean ,
Thanks for sharing your project. I love these in progress threads. Will you be having the letters or symbols inscribed or inlaid into the blade- I vote inlaid- maybe in brass (which would look identical to latten) or maybe iron. Granted I am not paying for your commission so my vote carries little weight still. . . .

[Matthew Grzybowski]

Thanks very much for the kind words! This project is going to be a lot of fun for us. I know that both Mark and I are excited to start working on it.

I should have an update for this thread tomorrow or Thrusday at the least.

Best,

Matt

[Steve Grisetti]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Jeremy V. Krause]

Yes I like this thread because I get to live vicariously through you Jean!
Well, certainly there is a tremendous cost difference between inlay and engraved/etched. If you don't care about historical authenticity then the inlay could be in copper instead of brass which, though historical, is kind of ugly in my opinion! What are you thinking about for the grip covering? something simple or more ornate?
Jeremy

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Matthew Grzybowski]

Here is Jean's revision to the original design that he had sent in and some of his additional thoughts on his piece.

Jean:
Here is an improved, version of the blade bevels: As in the Pontirolo sword there is one deep and narrow fuller. In this version the hollow grind is more like a very shallow fuller on each side of the central fuller regaining a very small and subtle amount of thickness to then become the appleseed secondary bevel.

The outside fullers/ hollow grind transitions into an elliptical section for the point: Again a subtle transition that I have tried to draw accurately but the exact way the transition will look I need Mark to figure out. I think this crossection for the point is better than the highly defined type XVI point I drew in the first version as it is closer in type to the type X of the Pontirolo. I can make an exception with the hollow grinding since the Oakeshott Xa shows that type X could have a different crossection than the more usual elliptical. Apart from really nice aesthetic the design reasons are to have a thicker and more rigid blade than with and elliptical section blade without unduly increasing the weight of the sword.

I've attached a copy of the updated picture that Jean sent us. Lots of great detail here for us to work with. We're should be starting to render within the next couple of weeks.

Best,

Matt

[Jean Thibodeau]

Just a quick update: I should be getting in the mail this week or next a full sized rendering of the sword so that I can approve the design or make some changes ( Minor I would guess ). This should also give me a chance to compare the size of the concept sword to some of my other swords i.e. a reallity check.

I can also praise Matthew for regular updates and feedback e-mails.

Here are are couple more of my concept drawings:
1) What the engraving might look on guard and pommel using a " standin " font.
2) The actual font JT initials I designed after making the first drawing.

[Patrick Kelly]

This project has piqued my interest Jean, thanks for the updates. I'm very interested to see how it turns out. I like your concept for the initials.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Geoff Wood]

[Jean Thibodeau]