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Ken Speed
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 Posted: Fri 26 Mar, 2010 8:57 am Post subject: Hanwei Tinker Viking Construction Comments |
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I just disassembled my HT Viking sword and I thought I'd discuss what I discovered and seek some advice. The hilt assembly was quite tight, I could detect no looseness and the peened pommel was very secure; I had to remove quite a bit of metal to release the pommel. Lets just say I'm glad I didn't have any plans to reuse the pommel. When I took off the grip I noticed that it had been shimmed on both side of the tang with extremely thin wood or bamboo shims. The crossguard is actually machined much better than I expected it to be. The grip is quite square in section, the leather wrapping isn't very impressive although the seam is quite indistinguishable. The leather is still wrapped around the ends of the grip but didn't contribute to any looseness in the assembly. I suspect that the construction on my sword is indicative of improvements made in response to complaints about earlier swords.
My major concern is the shoulder where the tang meets the blade, while it isn't a sharp 90 degree corner it is less rounded than I had hoped. I was wondering if any more experienced sword mechanics could provide guidance on how much of a radius there should be on the shoulders.
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Dustin R. Reagan
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| Posted: Fri 26 Mar, 2010 11:21 am Post subject: Re: Hanwei Tinker Viking Construction Comments |
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| Ken Speed wrote: | | Lets just say I'm glad I didn't have any plans to reuse the pommel. When I took off the grip I noticed that it had been shimmed on both side of the tang with extremely thin wood or bamboo shims. |
As a side-note, there are historical examples of using both wood & iron shims to firmly secure pommels & guards.
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Liam O'Malley
Location: New JErsey Joined: 17 Jan 2010
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Fri 26 Mar, 2010 2:04 pm Post subject: Re: Hanwei Tinker Viking Construction Comments |
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| Ken Speed wrote: |
My major concern is the shoulder where the tang meets the blade, while it isn't a sharp 90 degree corner it is less rounded than I had hoped. I was wondering if any more experienced sword mechanics could provide guidance on how much of a radius there should be on the shoulders. |
less than you think, probably. as long as you're not planning to use it as a crow bar or shovel and it's heat treated properly a 1/8" radius SHUOLD be fine. that also depends a bit on how tapered the tang is and what particular steel its made from. pictures would help, and while i work on swords for a living i'm not what you'd call a master smith by a LONG shot.
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This is a standard topic