[Jean Thibodeau]

Nice work on the grip by the way.

My first post was mostly just a little teasing, but I forgot to compliment you on the grip and an interesting topic: Not abuse or destructive testing, but it's interesting to see the effects of heavy use. If you were resharpening instead of de-burring the usability of a sharp would seem to be the same I think even if for a different use.

A sword seeing a lot of fighting might loose it's pristine look but should continue being a useful tool for a good while, and even more if only used for real fights with wasters or an old sword used for training.

A training sword gets the wear an tear of decades of fighting or carrying in mere days or weeks.

[Pamela Muir]

Jean, thank you for the compliment!

I am extremely curious about how much damage would be considered normal and acceptable on a battle sword and how much maintenance was required.

I like the antiqued look that some folks here have done to their swords, so obviously that normal aging and wear and tear is considered attractive and even desirable to some. Too bad aging and wear and tear on the sword owner isn't seen the same way.

[Sean Flynt]

Oakeshott notes that some Type XV swords may be honed-down Type XVIII blades, raising the interesting possibility that a sword could become more useful for a given kind of combat as it became less useful for another due to edge damage and subsequent honing. Although these blade types are both cut & thrust, the loss of the Type XVIII edge profile would theoretically reduce the cutting effectiveness and increase the thrusting effectiveness, right? Hard to say, I guess, without hands-on knowledge of both types. Keep training and honing Pamela, and you may end up with a lovely 16th century estoc blade!

[Pamela Muir]

Thanks for the input, Sean. That's very interesting to know. It's also comforting to think I'm doing things similar to the way it was done in the past. Nice thought.

Oh, and to make it clear, when

[Sean Flynt]

Ironically, training makes you sharper!

[Anton de Vries]

[Steve Grisetti]

Nicely done, Pamela. I am just catching up with my reading after going out of town, and find that you have gotten the restoration bug. Well, I have to say that the "old Bastard" looks great!

[Pamela Muir]

Okay, the first time was just for practice.

The wood grip was really hopelessly cracked. My repairs weren't enough, so I sent it back to Albion for a new wood grip. Unfortunately, black still isn't my color. So I re-gripped again. This time I used fine crochet thread and I did dye the chamois with yellow Rit dye. Due to my lack of skill with the camera it looks like the old re-grip is yellower than the new re-grip. Actually the new one has a much stronger yellow tint to it. The biggest disadvantage of the light color is that it picks up any dirt that might be around and the dye from whatever gloves I am wearing and sweating through.

The riser is a hair elastic. (I have a few of those on hand.)

Next up (in a couple of weeks) will be my Albion Squire line knightly sword. This time in green.

[Greg Griggs]

Looking great Pamela! Yeah, doesn't it really bite how those light colors pick up EVERY smudge, dust spot, and bit of oil off your fingers! Nice to see you keeping those swords looking gooooood.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Max von Bargen]

Wow! Very impressive work.

I'm jealous--partly in that I don't have anyone to spar with and nick up my blade!

Great work on everything; I especially like the yellow colour. It's very different from the standard stereotype of a sword, but it looks beautiful and I don't mind deviations from stereotypes!

[Greyson Brown]

Did you use the crochet thread for the underwrap or the exterior wrap? How did you like it? I've only used crochet thread on the outside. I like it because of the amount of detail it brings out, but with a thread that size, you have to do a lot of winding thread around the grip. I found it hard to maintain consistancy even over a relatively short grip. I'm still looking for the ideal cords, threads, and what have you for sword grips.

-Grey

Edited because I make stupid mistakes sometimes. (See Pamela's quote of my post if you want to see what I mean).

[Pamela Muir]

Thank you, gentlemen, for the compliments. I do think it turned out so much better the second time around.

[Greyson Brown]

[Steve Grisetti]

Your new grip looks great, Pamela. I look forward to seeing it, if all works out well at the end of this year. Maybe you can give me some grip-wrap lessons.

[Pamela Muir]

Grey, doing the wrap in multiple sections is a great idea! I'm kicking myself that I didn't already think of it. I will certainly try it on the next wrap. Is the nylon cord the same stuff that looks like fishing line? It seems nice and smooth, but I have a hard time seeing that nearly clear line. (I'm quite far-sighted.)

Crochet thread comes in a variety of widths. I used the 20 size. (The higher the number the thinner the thread. I've seen crochet thread from size 30 to size 3.) I wonder how embroidery floss would work? It's 6 individual strands twisted together. It might be an interesting effect, though I don't think I'm quite ready to try it yet.

Steve, I hope you do get to see it!

[Jean Thibodeau]

Pamela;

Fishing line is more a kind of plastic " monofilament " which probably means what it says.

When I think of nylon cord I visualize the very strong white glossy, semi-translucent and smooth cord made up of smaller cords twisted into larger cords. It comes in very fine spools and in large rope almost cable sizes, very strong as even the thinnest nylon cord with cut your finger open before it even comes close to breaking.

Fishing monofilament tends to be stiff and wouldn't work well or stay in place if one lets go of the tension when wrapping around something. ( Hard to explain, but almost like a weak spring and if you let go, all the turns or most of the turns you would make around the handle, would tend to unravel. ) There may be some fishing lines that are nylon cord I think, but I don't fish so I could be wrong. Used to use fishing line, the clear monofilament stuff to suspend set decorations for T.V. production because it's transparent and would almost disappear when you wanted some object to seem to be floating in the air.

I remember it was very hard to make a knot that wouldn't unravel itself unless one made a very large number of knots one over the other. Also stiff making knotting a pain.

( You need to spend more time browsing in hardware stores handling various king of rope to get a feel for textures and other qualities. I think wandering the isles of hardware stores looking at tools and plumbing supplies is one of those guy things: Always fascinating for the little boy still in us as the strangest stuff can become part of a D.I.Y project or just imagining how this stuff could be used ........ Oh, duct tape is another of those things that hold almost hypnotic attraction.) )

[Pamela Muir]

[Greyson Brown]

Pamela,

What I picked up is the white twisted, multistrand stuff that Jean mentioned. I am guessing, but it is probably about 1.5 mm thick. Because it is made of several strands twisted together, it should create a texture very similar to that on the Albion Next Gen grips.

-Grey

[Pamela Muir]

Ahh! I was thinking nylon thread, which is a sewing notion and not a hardware supply. (Nylon thread is nasty stuff, it's hard to see and it cuts into your hands. If you've ever had a blanket or comforter come unstitched and gotten tangled in it, you know what I mean.) Jean is right, I guess I need to spend more time at the hardware store. Grey, let me know how the nylon cord turns out.