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Hello all, There is a question that has been nagging me for some time now. I have made a few European swords over the last few years, and I usually attach the cross guard with a small TIG bead on the underside, that is then covered by the wood scales/grip. obviously this is not historical. and not the best way to do it i know. some other ways i have found by researching this online say to slide the guard onto tang hot with the slot in the guard slightly undersized. This allows the slot to expand and fit; then cool and contract. OK, this sounds good but wont the heat seep into the hardened and tempered tang/blade junction and soften it? It seems like it would soften the steel even more than welding it on. I already peen/plug weld my pommels on before the grip material is added, and the pommels never move afterward. i guess my question is how do you all do it? specifically viking swords, or swords with cruciform guards. thank you all for your time, and possibly helping me get over this hurdle.

I'm finally starting on my first completely custom Longsword that hasn't been made from scrap and spare parts from the shop. Haven't quite gotten around to posting many of my past works yet, so I'll start with my current build! Starting off, the design of this sword is pretty sizable.I am also loosely basing it off of an Oakeshott type XX. At 46"(116.64cm) in overall length, it'll have quite the reach. The blade will be 36" (91.44cm) from tip to shoulders. It will be made from stock removal of a pre-tempered 5160 blank, cut to profile.The guard and pommel are pretty hefty. Made from a mild plate steel, the material on the guard is starting out a 3/8"(.9525cm) in thick and the pommel is 1/2"(1.27cm) thick. they will be extensive sculpted and blackened. Hopefully my idea of a copper wire inlay will pan out. I'll be doing a heat blackening, I'm not sure how that will affect copper wire. So if anyone has any info or other suggestions, I'm all ears) An interesting feature will be a channel which will start at the bottom of the pommel and continue through the handle and end in a sort of arrowhead depression in the center block of the guard. Engravings all throughout the channel, as well as the large fuller that runs about 2/3 of the length of the blade. I started on the guard today, but forgot to snap my pictures. More will come tomorrow. For now i have a sketch that is pretty close to accurate in terms of proportions. Let me know what you guys think!

So, I got in the forge today and felt a little bit froggy. So I picked up a rather large piece of 1075 that I had lying around and decided that I saw a langsaex hidden inside. Only one picture so far, and a concept sketch will come a little bit later because I haven't quite decided what to do with the hilt. I just picked up the steel and said "what the hell, let's make a sword." As is fairly typical with my projects, the planning will come after the project has begun. I'll be doing some research tonight, and may have some concept sketches by tomorrow. The reason I'm calling it a bastard saex is that It's going to be a marriage of styles between a bastard sword and a langsaex, with a narrower blade than is typical on historical saexes, as well as a crossguard, hilt, and pommel similar to a medieval bastard sword. Anyway, here's the one picture: