Matthew Parkinson

Thanks man , i was hoping to have this done , but needed to start working on paying projects as well as waiting on a new container of blueing solution. of course than i got side tracked by the 1 cubic inch challenge... I need to focus..MP

I did the machine polish on the blade it is not at 400 grit and ready to hand sand out, and I riveted the bezels inplace. moving forward.

Closer still, I got the grip wrapped , I got the bezel drilled for the rivet and blued the pommel and guard, It is a bit splotchy as my bluing solution is pretty old. I gave up trying to get it even and ordered a couple new containers, I'll redo the blueing on the guard and pommel once it comes in. I ended up evening up the guard a bit more. ... seems like that is a never ending task. symmetry is the bain of my existence ... My checklist to get this guy done, is finish polishing and etching the blade, etch the panels for the sides of the pommel, rivet the bezels in place on th

I decided I didn't like the bezels I had made, so I remade them the base is nickel silver and the bezel is sterling. with the new bezels set I finished the polish on the pommel as well as the two side plates. I am going to drill a few holes and rivet the new bezels in place. At that point I can etch the side panels and put it together.

More slow progress on this sword. I finalized the pommel and got it all polished out to 600 grit. that included a bunch of time with a #4 swiss cut file refinine the lines and getting everything even. I got the nut filled out polished hardened and repolished and got the final stone set. moving on to the side panels today, I am going get the polished and etched , then carefully set them in the silver bezels .. then cold blue the pommel .. at least that is the idea. MP PXL_20210104_181852849.mp4

I took a jewelry / silver smithing class a few years ago, majorly helped me with my technique. I haven't taught though. These are sort of non-traditional, the stones are set in bezels separately and then will be secured with epoxy, I under cut the edges of the steel and put small notches on the bezel where to make a mechanical bond. I have been doing them this way for a few reasons, in damascus or as in this case a blues steel. first it lets me finish out the steel parts without worry about scratching them it setting the stones. It also lets me sit the stones lower in that would

sorry to take so long to up date this , but not much was done on the sword, I got sick then wrecked my back and had a commision I needed to be working on. But I made a little time to work on it this week, so we will see how far I can get. the guard wasn't sitting right in my mind it keep looking off , but the curves traced the same and a ruler showed then as the same size everywhere.. finally after going after it dial calipers I managed figured out where it was out fix that, tadn repeated the process several more times.. it is funny how even 0.005 thickness in the wrong place just l

What was your year? This year was not what any of us expected going into jan 2020. All our plans changed with the state of the world, as events canceled my travel was curtailed and I spent far more of this year at home and in the shop. I should have been productive, and in once sense I was. I have had a good year, my sales were far better than my fears, I filled my orders on time and managed to keep stock made for the online sales. Even so I worked Far less than normal. Best of 2020 ? What is your best work of 2020? Show me! Show me what you are most

I heard that Jim Siska passed away on the 18th. Jim was am awesome maker, and one of the nicest guys. He was always so encouraging at shows, and always free with information. I don't think he was ever a member here but he gave many grinding demos at the Ashoken seminar over the years so many of us may know him from there. RIP MP

messed my back up , so progress on every thing has been slow, but i got the guard sanded out to 220 and fit the stone settings. I was planning on setting two more stones in the ends on the quillons but I am not sure might be to much.. if I do I will need to order smaller stones these are 6mm and I am not sure they will fit

Thanks for the Pin! trying to fit this one in around other work in the shop but got a little done when I had my current commission soaking in vinegar to break the scale down. I got the pommel finish ground , the risers added to the grip core and started the hand polishing on the guard. PXL_20201202_210711780.mp4

I wasn't able to get to much done on this sword before the holiday, but I did manage to get the guard filed to final shape. I had ground out the guard on a 36 grit belt on a 8" wheel just to get it close. I followed that with second cut half 6" round file followed by a #2 swiss cut , I should be able to start polishing at 400 grit other than some piling that galled my finish (old file that I need to replace soon) should go quick at 220 grit though. I'll get it to 220 before I start cutting the settings for the stones.

I got a little more done on this sword after Jordan left for home. I roughed out the grinding on the guard, then I got the handle shaped out and cord wrapped. I got a quitch etch on the pommel panels and ground the pommel closer to finish shape. I started to lay out the stone settings. there will be two rubies and three star sapphires set in silver on the sword.. MP

The rest of the week was a bit of a mad scramble to get an assembled sword as Jordan needed to head home on friday. I stayed on the pommel and got the plates ground to thickness polished to 220 an heat treated. Jordan ground the blade out carefully to match the original leaving just a bit over thickness to polish off later. when he was finished at 220 it was very close to the original less than .5MM change anywhere and other than our blade isn't sabered like the orginal the profile matches closely as well. in grinding the blade warped a bit so we took to keeping the kil

Two years ago I got the chance to document several medieval swords with my friend Greg Cimms, it was a epic day in NYC neither of us are likely to ever forget. I have sat on the tracings and measurements for a long time now waiting for the right time / project to use then. A few months ago I invited another friend of mine Jordan LaMothe down to the shop for a visit, as sort of a Bussmans holiday we decided to do a epic sword build. We began by planning out the build, using the proportions, weight and thickness measurements of the original sword we would build a modern sword.