I have been looking at a moat sale blade at Albion. I want to assemble a blade myself, but I have been looking for hilt components. They have a few pommels there, but no crossguards for a early medieval sword, preferably cruciform style.
American Fencers does not have pictures of their fittings, and if they are anything like on their regular blades, I don't particularly care for them. Other places sell brass pommels and crossguards. VA Armouries no longer has their parts and pieces page, and I think my only recourse is to cannibalize another sword unless I can find a better option.
| Aaron Justice wrote: |
| I have been looking at a moat sale blade at Albion. I want to assemble a blade myself, but I have been looking for hilt components. They have a few pommels there, but no crossguards for a early medieval sword, preferably cruciform style.
American Fencers does not have pictures of their fittings, and if they are anything like on their regular blades, I don't particularly care for them. Other places sell brass pommels and crossguards. VA Armouries no longer has their parts and pieces page, and I think my only recourse is to cannibalize another sword unless I can find a better option. |
Bar stock steel, say, 8-10mm thick by 12-15mm by 30mm length, cut to size, 4mm drill bit and 3-4 holes, drilled then and filed for the tang slot to fit, then attack a bench grinder to shape it from a rectangle to a tapering cruciform gaddhjalt type cross, then smooth the surfaces ground with a decent file in a vice, then use emery paper and smooth it steadily through to the finish you want?
if you've got the basic metal work tools, its an absurdly simple type of cross to make from bar stock bought from virtually any steel stockist around.
I made my crossguard from the same 7 mm leaf spring that I used for the blade. It's a bit thin, but stronger than a thicker piece of mild steel. It wasn't a easy to drill through and make the recess. Only dentist's tools were able to cut through regular drills and files were useless. I used an angle grinder with a small disc to make the rough shape of the recess and I finished with the Dremel.
For the disc pommel I payed about 1,5 $, it was a 5 minutes job on the lathe. The really painful part was fileing the 7 mm hole to the trapezoidal shape of my tang, 7x14 mm on one end and 7x9 mm on the other. My pommel was 50 mm in diameter, so I invoked all the saints from the heavens while I wasted 7-8 hours doing this.
It's hard to find a matching crossguard for your blade, so I suggest to make your own. Use the method suggested by JG Elmslie. It's not so hard to make one using only basic metalworking tools. Remember to go slow and and take long rests to regain focus. If you get tired or frustrated it will be very likely to mess up the tang slot and later it will be very difficult and annoying to make a tight fit.
If you don't have any metal working experience buy a few beers to someone who has. An experienced worker with decent tools can make it in half an hour. Ask him to make the slot a bit smaller and leave the final adjustments to yourself for it's time consuming.
For the disc pommel I payed about 1,5 $, it was a 5 minutes job on the lathe. The really painful part was fileing the 7 mm hole to the trapezoidal shape of my tang, 7x14 mm on one end and 7x9 mm on the other. My pommel was 50 mm in diameter, so I invoked all the saints from the heavens while I wasted 7-8 hours doing this.
It's hard to find a matching crossguard for your blade, so I suggest to make your own. Use the method suggested by JG Elmslie. It's not so hard to make one using only basic metalworking tools. Remember to go slow and and take long rests to regain focus. If you get tired or frustrated it will be very likely to mess up the tang slot and later it will be very difficult and annoying to make a tight fit.
If you don't have any metal working experience buy a few beers to someone who has. An experienced worker with decent tools can make it in half an hour. Ask him to make the slot a bit smaller and leave the final adjustments to yourself for it's time consuming.
Hiya
Just out of interest, how did the cutlers manufacture the hilt furniture in period?
Did they drift a hole when forging the crosspiece, and clean it up from there? Or did they drill from a solid blank as recommended above?
Cheers
Boyd
Just out of interest, how did the cutlers manufacture the hilt furniture in period?
Did they drift a hole when forging the crosspiece, and clean it up from there? Or did they drill from a solid blank as recommended above?
Cheers
Boyd
| Boyd C-F wrote: |
| Hiya
Just out of interest, how did the cutlers manufacture the hilt furniture in period? Did they drift a hole when forging the crosspiece, and clean it up from there? Or did they drill from a solid blank as recommended above? Cheers Boyd |
in period, I think it would almost certainly have been done hot, and a drift through, possibly with a little fettling after. to be honest, I'm not really sure what date drilling in metal as a mechanical process became viable. Anyone know about the history of drills? :)
the blank is far less efficient in terms of material wastage than hot-worked, but then nowadays, the material cost is so low (I can get a bar of mild steel in those dimensions for £2 ) that almost all processes are far more wasteful as its more cost-effective to waste material, than the time taken to make it more efficiently.
says something about the world we live in, does'nt it...
| Aaron Justice wrote: |
| I have been looking at a moat sale blade at Albion. I want to assemble a blade myself, but I have been looking for hilt components. They have a few pommels there, but no crossguards for a early medieval sword, preferably cruciform style.
American Fencers does not have pictures of their fittings, and if they are anything like on their regular blades, I don't particularly care for them. Other places sell brass pommels and crossguards. VA Armouries no longer has their parts and pieces page, and I think my only recourse is to cannibalize another sword unless I can find a better option. |
http://www.chevalierdauvergne.com/ click on their Theatrical weapons, click choose a weapon, then search down for guards and pommels (available in steel). Unfortunately, the shipping is more than the pieces.
The Sword Buyer's Guide forum has a sticky thread on places to buy parts for customizing western swords. Perhaps you can find something there:
http://sbgswordforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?...read=14090
http://sbgswordforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?...read=14090
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