The sword is now complete. It is by far the biggest, most complex piece I‘ve made so far and proved challenging in mutltiple ways. I am very happy with the outcome though and look forward to further hone the skills I acquired here on other pieces in the future. I shall revisit these complex hilts soon... a certain Swiss Saber is calling my name
;)



Stats:

overall length: 143cm (56.3“)
blade length: 107.5cm (42.3“)
blade width at guard: 4.7cm (1.8“)
PoB: 12cm (4.7“)
CoP: ca 65cm (26“)
weight: 2420g (5.3lbs)
hilt node: 8cm behind guard (3.2“)
forward pivot point: at tip





This sword again proves that the weight only tells part of the story. It is very big and heavy, yet in hand that weight, while certainly present, isn‘t nearly as much of a hindrance as one might think. The idea behind this piece was to create a sword similar in size to the imposing late 15th and early 16th century war swords the Landsknechts are so famous for but with the handling characteristics of a true longsword, to be employed for fencing in the style of the German school of longsword. The goal was also to make a rather cutting oriented blade that still retains good point control and thrusting ability. I believe the sword to be a full success in that sense. It combines excellent (!) cutting performance with a sharp, stiff and well defined point that can be moved quickly and precisely, especially with the index finger placed in front of the guard.






Make no mistake, this IS a huge sword and requires both good body mechanics and a certain amount of strength to use but to those who have that, it offers truly devastating potential. I would absolutely hate to fight someone capable and armed with this sword... the powerful blows would be very hard to displace, yet at the same time there‘s nothing sluggish about this sword. And the reach is a whole other matter.

To show that even someone not particularly muscular can use this sword to good effect, here's a short cutting video... this sword really screams for thigh thick tatami mats but light targets are fun, too ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfC7siHJh80&feature=youtu.be

I‘m 99% positive I‘ll have this sword on my table at the sword maker‘s show in Solingen on September 25th, so anybody wanting to see it in person is very welcome to stop by ;)

Anyway, one of two XVIIIb down, one more to go! Stay tuned and thanks for watching!

While Type XVIII's are generally later then the time period i am interested in I am starting to develop a great respect for them. I really like how this sword came out! I am looking forward to seeing the second one completed.

Any chance of getting a full-length profile shot?

Yeah, it certainly looks like quite the beast, but a manageable one. I'd like to see what those hilt rings would look like an a cross whose quillons had a slight horizontal S-curve... :cool:

I look forward to seeing your next piece! Do you have any ideas as to how you would like to hilt that one up?

You mean a straight look on the sword from above, no angle?

The other one will have a simpler downward curved cross and a pear shaped pommel with grooves. The customer gave me a Del Tin hilt set that I will modify to fit the blade.

Check out the pic of the sword with the wooden handle... that's practically what you're looking for. But I'll see if I can take such a pic of the finished sword tomorrow before the customer comes to pick it up.

Yes, simple can indeed be good. And honestly, I'm kinda glad to work on a guard that is not made from 5 parts...

Absolutely Fantastic Lukas! I absolutely LOVE THIS SWORD!!!!

Those proportions are really, really pleasing.

Finally some progress on the remaining XVIII. The blade is now final ground and sits at 80 grit. I will give it a few passes with 180 grit and then it's onto hand sanding.

At this point, with edge being formed and already quite sharp, I do some testing to ensure edge geometry and heat treatment are spot on. Other than flex tests, this also involves chopping the edge into an iron nail in multiple spots along both edges. Only the absolute slightest mark on the edge is acceptable, far too small to pick up with the camera (mine already fails at properly showing the deep cuts in the nail, going more than half way through). Larger dents or depressions in the edge speak either for a faulty heat treatment and/or for too delicate an edge (I will note that this test doesn't necessarily apply to all swords, there may be examples where a very fine edge that might well be damaged by this test is actually desirable. For an all around, general purpose blade I find the test suitable though).
Either way, this blade's a pass ;)

The guard for the XVIII is taking shape. Some aspects like finish, etc still have to be discussed but the basic shape is there.

Starting point was the guard of a Del Tin DT2160 that was supplied by the customer.

The pommel's shape is defined with the angle grinder, using a rough grinding stone. It still needs clean up with a finer disk, especially at the top but the basic shape can be seen already.
The tang end is shaped to fit the hole in the pommel, the transition from round to square-ish happens inside the pommel, a small but important detail.

Please excuse the shoddy pictures, there is no natural light for pics anymore (thanks, winter) and my cheap camera really struggles with artificial light.

Lukas,
I would like to know whether the sword above has been completed or not. And by the way, the pommel looks great.

Still working on it ;) Doing this part time, things just take a (long) while.

Anyway: Pommel is cleaned up. I'm still debating whether or not to leave it shiny or to blacken it. I kinda feel like the pommel would look better shiny but the guard better blackened. I'll decide once the guard is finished as well.
Either way, I'm VERY happy with how the pommel turned out.

Not a big update, just a shot of the sword's proportions. With the pommel and guard pretty much finished, I check the proportions and overall flow again and do some final changes if necessary. In this case here I ended up shortening the guard a bit.

You can also see that I am toying with the idea of adding a rain guard of the flap type.

I think part of the reason why I've always been attracted to this particular style of sword (XVIIIb in Oakeshott's typology, before he revised it) is that very long, lean, awl-shaped profile. I don't think any other type of medieval sword quite captures that unique balance between elegant aesthetic and purposeful, brutal efficiency, quite like these.

I was originally a little apprehensive that the cross might be too long, but now that I see it in context of the sword's proportions, I was definitely wrong-- it works beautifully!

I agree with you on the XVIIIb. I love that type ;)

Btw, your sense of aesthetics was right on... I ended up shortening the guard a bit! Not by much, a cm on each side but it made a difference. The guard in the pics is the shortened version and as you say, I think it works beautifully now.

Making the blade inlet in the guard.





All components fit together now. Both guard and pommel will move down a bit when hammered in place but you can already get a good idea of how everything will feel when finally mounted.

The fittings still need to be polished and blackened.

The blade is finished ground to 180grit, now it's onto hand sanding.

Overall weight currently is 1870g. The original this blade is inspired by sits at 2000g so it will be pretty much right on when finished. It should be slightly heavier since the original has a fuller in the lower third and is 2cm shorter.

http://www.zornhau.de/wordpress/wp-content/up...3-SW-3.pdf





Here you can make out the small pitting in the guard. That's a hassle that can happen when using fittings by other makers as a basis. These were Del Tins. With an antiqued finish the pitting won't be a problem and will actually add to the look but on polished steel it looks out of place:

looking great, and I hope you keep the rain guard! gives it a more unique look.

absolutly fantastic work, i love it very well.

oliver s.