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Colt Reeves
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 Posted: Sun 07 Aug, 2011 2:01 pm Post subject: Windlass Five Lobed Viking Hilt Mod |
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Short and simple: I took the Windlass Five Lobed Viking and wrapped twisted brass/steel wire around the hilt/pommel, filed the crossguard a bit, and superglued two nail heads on the pommel to make it look like it is two piece. Sorry for poor picture quality.
Before and After...
Questions, comments, insults?
"Tears are for the craven, prayers are for the clown.
Halters for the silly neck that cannot keep a crown.
As my loss is grievous, so my hope is small.
For Iron, Cold Iron, must be master of men all..."
-Cold Iron, Rudyard Kipling
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Joel Chesser
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| Posted: Sun 07 Aug, 2011 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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Colt, very nice. I have one of these swords and have been planning on doing a wire grip on it as well. I'm glad you shared this. It makes me want to work on mine. Yours looks great. The nail heads is an interesting addition. I never woould have thought of that.
..." The person who dosen't have a sword should sell his coat and buy one."
- Luke 22:36
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J.D. Crawford
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| Posted: Sun 07 Aug, 2011 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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Nice. It's a nice solid little sword isn't it? And now yours looks a lot better. I used to have one and tried something similar, put wire on the grip and tried to put some wire in the gap above the 'upper guard', but failed at the latter. How did you manage this?
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Jim Adelsen
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sun 07 Aug, 2011 5:05 pm Post subject: Re: Windlass Five Lobed Viking Hilt Mod |
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Nice work. It's too bad Windlass offered this one for such a short time, it has great weight and balance.
www.viking-shield.com
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Colt Reeves
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| Posted: Sun 07 Aug, 2011 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks. I do like this sword. I'm a little weak to effectively wield it in combat, but against the ever threatening water bottle it is my best cutter.
As for how I did it, the wire along the pommel is held in place by large amounts of super glue. Not historical I know, but it worked. The wire on the hilt itself is also glued down heavily, with some more slathered over it once wrapped to stop rust. It is surprisingly time consuming to wrap and glue at the same time.
Edit: And I would love to see what everyone else has done to their Five Lobed. The more the merrier.
"Tears are for the craven, prayers are for the clown.
Halters for the silly neck that cannot keep a crown.
As my loss is grievous, so my hope is small.
For Iron, Cold Iron, must be master of men all..."
-Cold Iron, Rudyard Kipling
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Mon 08 Aug, 2011 1:16 am Post subject: Re: Windlass Five Lobed Viking Hilt Mod |
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| Jim Adelsen wrote: | | Nice work. It's too bad Windlass offered this one for such a short time, it has great weight and balance. |
I still have one with a brass guard and pommel of exactly the same pattern, probably an early version.
The blade is quite ponderous with a lot of presence and is unsharpened.
I think I paid $75 for it maybe 1o to 12 years ago.
Colt: Nice upgrade on the sword.  
Did you add the wire wrap on the handle over the original leather or did you stake that off first ? Just curious as I haven't done anything to mine and I think I read somewhere ( probably here  ) that the core is plastic rather than wood ?
If there where some variants or " generations " of these, maybe some used different materials for the grip ?
Well, mine was one of my first swords when I started being interested in them again late in the 20th century: I did have some " wallhangers a few decades before this as that was just about all that was readily available and before the Internet searching or learning about the very much earlier makers that where making decent quality reproduction swords like Del Tin or very early production A & A. Mostly all one could find was " decorator " swords of low quality.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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David Wilson
Location: In a van down by the river Joined: 23 Aug 2003
Posts: 803
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| Posted: Mon 08 Aug, 2011 11:51 am Post subject: Re: Windlass Five Lobed Viking Hilt Mod |
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| Jean Thibodeau wrote: |
I still have one with a brass guard and pommel of exactly the same pattern, probably an early version.
The blade is quite ponderous with a lot of presence and is unsharpened.
I think I paid $75 for it maybe 1o to 12 years ago.
Colt: Nice upgrade on the sword.
Did you add the wire wrap on the handle over the original leather or did you stake that off first ? Just curious as I haven't done anything to mine and I think I read somewhere ( probably here ) that the core is plastic rather than wood ?
If there where some variants or " generations " of these, maybe some used different materials for the grip ?
Well, mine was one of my first swords when I started being interested in them again late in the 20th century: I did have some " wallhangers a few decades before this as that was just about all that was readily available and before the Internet searching or learning about the very much earlier makers that where making decent quality reproduction swords like Del Tin or very early production A & A. Mostly all one could find was " decorator " swords of low quality. |
The old brass gaurd sword is actually a different sword entirely. I had one of those myself, and it was heavy and awkward. And the grip was plastic covered with fake leather (vinyl? Pleather? And a poorly done glued wrap, at that). And it was assembled with a screw-on pommel that seemed perpetually loose or unaligned. The Windlass "Five Lobe" as illustrated is actually a very nice sword, weighs about 2.5 lbs and balances quite well. The blade on the old brass gaurd sword was a crowbar with a little fuller in the middle; the Five lobe has a type-Xish blade with a proper wide, full-length fuller. And it has a peened pommel.
I got rid of my "brass gaurd" long ago; I still have a "Five Lobe" and plan on keeping it..... I used to detest Windlass, but the "Five Lobe" changed my mind....
You can still find the "brass gaurd" sword in eBay and from cheap sword vendors on line (but why would you want to?). The "Five Lobe", now discontinued, is rather more difficult to find.
Anyway -- Nice job on the sword, it looks even better now!
David K. Wilson, Jr.
Laird of Glencoe
Now available on Amazon: Franklin Posner's "Suburban Vampire: A Tale of the Human Condition -- With Vampires" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N7Y591
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Mon 08 Aug, 2011 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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David: Nice to know what one has and glad for Colt that he has a much better quality sword.
I'm not really disappointed and the blade is ponderous and unbalanced on the brass hilted " cheapo " version. 
It cost me so little that it's not really a buying mistake but just something cheap picked up at a sporting goods trade show at a production knife table.
Sort of has a low sentimental value and great to put into someone's hand right after they where holding one of my Albions or other high end swords to demonstrate the differences in handling between a good sword and a sharpened crowbar.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
Last edited by Jean Thibodeau on Mon 08 Aug, 2011 9:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
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J.D. Crawford
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| Posted: Mon 08 Aug, 2011 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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Jean, here is a review I did of this sword a few years ago, and a pumpkin cutting show-down against some similar windlass products (that I also no longer own). -JD
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=14442
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Colt Reeves
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| Posted: Tue 09 Aug, 2011 8:20 am Post subject: |
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I suspect you might be referring to this one Jean: http://www.trueswords.com/viking-spirit-sword-p-770.html
I also own this "sword" and it doesn't compare to the Windlass one. In addition to the bad balance, it seems to be untempered and developed cracks in use.
Both it and the Windlass in question have wood handles, though it is indeed fake leather on the former. Something I didn't mention, but Jean asks about, is that I did remove the leather and woodrasp the hilt to a more oval cross-section before putting on the wire. The factory hilt is more of a rectangle with rounded corners in cross-section and has a tapering triangle appearance I didn't care for. (Also, I took a black Sharpie to the hilt before the wire, so gaps wouldn't show up as much.)
"Tears are for the craven, prayers are for the clown.
Halters for the silly neck that cannot keep a crown.
As my loss is grievous, so my hope is small.
For Iron, Cold Iron, must be master of men all..."
-Cold Iron, Rudyard Kipling
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