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During past couple of years I forged two gladius blades based on an artifact from Vindonissa Museum in Brugg, Switzerland. Each of them was forged in a different way. I think the photos will show better than words can explain the structure. Briefly. The first one is a kind of ‘sandwich’ like San Mai construction. Soft wrought iron as flats and hard steel 80crv1 as a core. The second was forged from three kinds of material: soft wrought iron on the main body, hard bearing steel as a core, which is invisible in final blade, and the third one is medium hard wrought steel on the edges. Why such unusual solution? Soft iron would make the blade too plastic, bearing steel is hard and rigid/stiff. One picture shows the cross section of a piece of ‘blade’ I forged of the same bar just to check how it goes. The first sword has already been fitted and equipped with a scabbard. This marvelous part of job was done by another craftsman, an Elder Mster who’s name I don’t even know. I mentioned about it in my thread about Spatha. After the pictures were mixed up by the system I deceided to put each blade in separate post.

I'ts from my blog https://lipinskimetalart.blogspot.com/2023/10/spatha-viw-ne-4th-century-ad.html Spatha A sword used during the late Roman Empire. Inspired by finds from a lake in Illerup Adal, Denmark, where about 400 swords of this type were found. I carried out the project quite a long time ago, in 2019-2020. My role was only to forge the blade, the grip and scabbard were made by another craftsman, whose name I don't even know. I know only he is an elder man who works exclusively for one reenacting group. The pattern on the original blade is quite unusual and it is not known exactly what technique it was made with, my interpretation is rather loose.

This was just an experiment to see how large of a blade I could get out of an old file. Ended up with something like a half-sized Oakeshott XVIIIa

I've got this dagger and I have no idea of its origin or its worth - any help?

Hola amigos, les muestro las fotos que salieron de una sesión de fotos que tomamos para la Sword of the Battler. ¡Espero que te guste!

Hi. Recently I've started welding billets for a pattern welded sword. This is something that I wanted to do for a long time. Luckily my cousin who takes part in battle reenacting wants to fight with PW sword. I took advantage and decided to do it even more cool comparing to the agreed price - to practice, to improve my skills, to take the challange and to make myself an "internal exam". The blade will be welded of 8 bars. 4 twisted bars (29 layers 1045x51CrV4 - spring) for the fuller, 2 straight laminate bars (mild steel x 1,2%C steel) + 51CrV4 (spring) on edges. I'm at the beginning of the job

At last, I was able to finish my first medieval sword ... The work was artisanal in its entirety, the steel I used was the 5160, in total I took two sheets, the first, after being forged, and carved the phrases on both sides and made the TT discard it as it appeared a small microcrack , that was an important blow, because I was about to abandon the task, but after a few days I started the second sheet from virgin steel, the forge integrates, forge the hammer channel and chisel again all the letters and symbols as They are in the original, taking into account the length, width and above all, the weight and the center of gravity. For the guard and the knob use low carbon steel, recycled bolts of elastic in disuse, also for this I guided by the measurements of the original and images of it, even leave a small difference between an arm and another of the original's guard. For the grip there if I played a bit, the original sword does not have it, then surfing the internet, I found other replicas of this sword, but they did not convince me, so I chose to use materials that were available at that time and that could have been in this sword, for that reason use deer horn for the hilt and leather to cover it, leaving a part visible polished, which gives it an aspect if you want original. And finally the pod, another great challenge, it is made of quiri wood, inside it has a sea cloth because unfortunately I could not get leather, lined in leather in its entirety, sewn by hand (almost 300 holes one by one with a punzon), and with the pin under the leather, that until last moment I did not decide, but finding out and asking, I chose to leave it as seen. Then came the hardware, which I completely forge, looking for models that are consistent with the time. In short, the sword as a whole try to be aesthetically and functionally as close to the original, that is realistic, do not look for beauty, first because it does not give me the leather, and second, because this sword is like that, basic, beautiful and simple ... I hope you like it, in it I put the best of my

I was interested in doing a 3rd century roman sword. While researching I found out that there was a short sword still in use by then something called a semi-spatha. So far I've read that it was either a broken Spatha reforged or a gladius that's hanged around for longer. But other than that I haven't found any exact details or images on the sword. Thank you in advance for any information.

I'm doing an elvish sword for a customer that has a forge welded pommel. The welding was tricky as you have to put the guard on first and the guard wouldn't allow me to stick the tang all the way into the forge for welding. That part I made work. I just heat treated yesterday and I had the same problem, however. No matter what I couldn't get the base of the blade hot enough to quench. I gave it a go anyway, and the entire blade hardened except the first 2 inches from the tang shoulders and, here's the kicker, I had no warping! I tempered like normal and the blade flexes beautifully. The unhardened section is 1/4" thick X 2" wide, so it's substantial enough to not see any flexes, but I wanted to get other parties' input. Does anyone think it's worth it to re-harden for those last two inches?

my latest sword about 28 inches overall 23 in blade with a forged red bronze guard and a cast bronze pommel . sword blade is forged from 1075.

... and another sword This time, short, light, fast - for a "flyweight" sworsman. Blade of 60WCrV8 tool steel, cross guard and upper guard + pommel - wrought iron - etched, burnished with oil then polished with abrasive paper 1000 grit.. Grip - wood + leather. Overall lenght - 867mm Blade lenght - 707mm Grip - 102mm Width at cros guard - 47mm Cross guard lenght - 72mm Upper guard lenght - 52mm Point of balance - 166mm Weight - 990g / 2,18 lb

Another sword finished Blunt blade forged out of massive bar of 60WCrV8 tool steel. Cross guard, upper guard and pommel forged and filed of wrought iron + brass inlay. "Rivets" are actually screws - not historical techinicque, but the sword is dedicated for sport fencing. The grip was made of black locust wood and leather. Some data: Overall lenght - 935mm / 36,8" Blade lenght - 776mm / 30,55" Grip - 102mm / 4 Width at cros guard - 48mm / 1,89" Cross guard lenght - 107mm / 4,21" Upper guard lenght - 77mm / 3,03" Point of balance - 167mm / 6,57" Weight - 1165g / 2,56 lb (41oz)

Don't have the time to have this treated or mounted anymore. Made of 1075, and untempered. Measures 27.5 inches long overall, and has a 19.5 inch long blade. You can have it for 60 dollars and shipping.

Alrighty, gotta get these off my hands. [br]Three blanks I made, one a smallsword or long dagger (along the lines of needle from Game of Thrones, this one has both a guard and pommel) And one my interpretation of the Uruk Hai scimitar from the Lord of the rings, with a tang set up for either a katana style grip or a knife style handle. Lastly is a knife, with pin holes and lightening holes already drilled. [br]Knife measures 11.5 inches overall, cleaver sword measures 31 overall, and the smallsword thing measures just under 29 inches overall. [br][br]35 for the small sword, 25 for the knife blade, 35 for the uruk hai chopper, or 75 for all three. Steel is 1075. Untempered. Buyer pays shipping.. [br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br]

Hello folks I've recently started working on the swiss short sword inspired by examples from 15/16th century. Since it survived the heat treating I decided to share it. Before HT Current state after HT (lots of hand polishing ahead )

As some of you may remember a little while back, I was asking about steel types for a rapier project. Well, I opted to use what I have on hand, spring steel. To refresh everyone's memory, I included pictures of my design drawings along with progress pictures. The design drawings show a general idea of what I want to accomplish. In the second drawing, I zoomed in to show the basket. The next pictures shows the start of the build. I started off with a long leaf and split it length-wise. Starting with the tang, I drew it out to roughly the shape and size I need then proceeded to start the blade taper. Next, I started to refine the shape on the anvil before any grinding. During this stage, I noticed what seemed to be a few small inclusions and possibly a small crack starting. Genuinely concerned, I chased the inclusions with an angle grinder and found the small crack and inclusions were only surface deep. Relieved, I decided to begin the cleanup grinding. During this part, the length of both the blade and tang was fine tuned. The blade length is 38" and the tang is 8" to give an overall length of 46". So far, I have about ten hours logged in for this. There will be more pictures as more progress is made.

Hi, I am not sure if this is the right forum for my queries. If not pardon me. Well, first of, I am not a blacksmith/blade smith. However I have been entrusted with a project to revive the dying art of traditional sword and knife making in Bhutan (a small himalayan kingdom). It is not just preserving the art but also to promote as a viable livelihood. The last of the master craftsman is in his 80s. The attempt is being made to train some younger folks to take up the craft. However, to do it in a traditional way, the younger folks are not interested. It is considered dirty, physically exhaustive. Therefore, to make it appealing to younger folks, we would like to mechanize certain processes of production. 1. Require technical advice in adopting and using efficient forge. Traditionally and currently we use charcoal forge. 2. Advice in using mechanical/ pneumatic forge hammer. Currently it is manually done, engaging two persons for forge hammering. 3. The art of making sword with laminated still is sort of lost now. I would like to seek your technical expertise to revive this as well. We have initiated the project in a modest way with 5 learners through sort of apprenticeship under the only existing master artisan in a 4 X 6 mtrs workshop. We are also thinking about possibility of engaging an expert to help us in mechanizing the essential processes and train the user in proper handling of the tools. That way, we may also require expert advice in designing a proper production house subsequently. I am the project manager acting as the defacto expert, in absence of any, in the field of managing a iron craft project. Any kind of expert advice and opinion will be helpful and to initiate further collaboration. Help. Karma about_sword.pdf

This was a very pleasant commission to work on for me. I could practice a little more of inlaying and the results got better than i could anticipate, even if I have much to evolve in this art. The blade was mostly done by stock removal, but the tip and the tang were forged prior to the grinding. It was made using 1070 steel. The hilt is of a variation of Petersen's type L and it's components are made in mild steel and the inlays are nickel silver. The twisted wires are also nickel silver. It was then oil coated and lightly heated to make it look darker, so the contrast with the cooper-alloy would be even more visible. It is also a good way to prevent rust. My signature this time went on the inside of the lower guard, as the blade carries my maker's name. And on the pommel is asymmetrical in decoration: one side carries a similar decoration to the guards and the other a "double Týr" bind rune. The idea of peening it on the pommel cap is also a historical method, but I made it mainly because it would be more secure than peening the upper guard and attaching the pommel cap to it. The handle is pine wood wrapped in cord and then covered with pig skin. The scabbard is also pinewood, as well as it's belt-bridge. It is lined inside with natural wool and covered with linen cloth. The chape is also mild steel and the bridge is held by leather strips. All the decorations were made to fit a late ninth century fashion, although it is a simplification of the Borre style rather than a more elaborate version. The runes on the blade are inspired mainly on inscriptions of later, 10th and 11th century blades commonly made in Latin language such as Ingelri or Gecelin, but also inspired on the famous Tizona of El Cid and the Cortana from the legend of Holger Danske when it comes in the naming process of it. The use of the runes or local language was a choice of the owner, although I'm aware of only a single sword with runic inscriptions from the period (according to Petersen, B1622), but I have no access to what is written on this exemplar. They read: ik er ulfsmoþRin (Ek er UlfsmóðrRinn - I am the Wrath of the Wolf) hioruarþR kirosi mik (Hjörvarðr gerosi mek - Hjörvarðr made me) They are all written in old norse and I used the danish long-twig young futhork to write them. The sword was exposed at one of the biggest blade shows here in Brazil, where it was awarded the prize of Best Sword of the show and is indeed a proud weapon to display, as well as is swift and powerful to wield. As usual, I wrote a short tale for this blade that can be read here: http://vferreiraarruda.blogspot.com.br/2017/08/ulfsmor-wrath-of-wolf.html I hope you like it. And here are the stats of it. Overall length: 94,0cm Blade length: 79,7cm Blade width: 5,4cm Blade thickness at the guard: 0,5cm PoB: 17,2cm Length of the grip: 10,3cm Weight: 1,150kg

Hi All, I'd like to see what other people do to straighten sword-length blades out of the forge. Correcting warps post-HT is simple enough and has been covered numerous times on this forum alone, but getting a long blade perfectly straight in the first place has always been a challenge to me. I find it especially hard on curved blades. My go-to is generally to find a flat surface, heat the blade up for normalizing, and either gently tap with the hammer down the length on the flat surface (flipping occasionally), or lay the sword down and press down on it with a heavy piece of flat steel (or thick board). Does anyone have anything better? On straight blades this works okay, but if I clamp the tang to a flat work surface afterward I'll still end up with more clearance between the surface and the tip on one side than on the other. Curved blades have been giving me trouble recently... Best, A.J.

Hello everyone, this is my first post here but I have been lurking around for a while, studying all of the amazing work you create. I have been making chefs knives and a couple of daggers for a while but my goal have always been to forge swords. I decided to begin that journey at the end of last year and have been working twoards this goal since then. I have a full time job and too many hobbies to count but smithing have always been my number one passion and I have finally reached a milestone I've been looking forward to for a long time. I've finished my first sword. The proportions of the sword, weight distribution and blade design is based on a 15th century sword from Germany as documented by Peter Johnsson and published in the book accompanying the exhibition "The Sword - Form and Thought" at the Deutshes Klingenmuseum in Solingen (2015 - 2016). Without his research (and further help with heat treating methods and oven design) this project would not have been possible. I am honored to have been given so much of your time and knowledge Peter. The pommel, crossguard and grip is not based on a single sword. It's just me looking at other master pieces, taking a bit here and a bit there and coming up with something that I thought looked good. The sword is 125.3 cm long, forged from 6150 steel and it's edges are sharp. I'm very happy with the outcome but I am definitely going to aim for a completely tight fit of blade to crossguard on my next sword. I got a little carried away with the filing and ended up having made a too large and also slightly curved hole. I will definitely continue making more swords in the future and I'm already looking in to ways of starting to study museum pieces to begin building up my own library of knowledge of historical swords. Cheers!

Hello, I would like to show you a few of blades that I welded in a last couple of months. Everything is welded from S235 low carbon steel and 50HF spring steel. Only axe is made of C45 steel and 50HF welded into the cutting edge. First I want to present viking sword blade, the core is made of 2 bars with separate sections of twist pattern and solid blades. It is 75 cm long, 5,2 cm wide and the thickness starts from the 7mm near tang and ends at 4mm at a tip. Next one is the long knife with wolf teeth blade, 42 cm long and 3cm wide. It is welded from 2 twisted bars, wolf teeth blade and solid thin plate on top. 2 little knife blades, with the simillar structure to the long knife. The small one's blade is around 7 cm long. And the last one, welded axe from the folded piece made of C45 and piece of 50HF inserted into the cutting edge. The handle is made of ash wood. Axe head is 14,7 cm long, cutting edge is 8,8cm long, and the handle is 56 cm long. The weight of the whole axe is 680 g. Regards and thanks for watching, Rafał Garbacik.

This sword was from a little while ago, though I thought some of you may enjoy it. This was a commissioned piece. It is a traditional Chinese Jian. Primarily due to the extreme distal taper, this sword is an absolute joy to handle. Light and thin at the tip yet stiff, much of the weight is concentrated in the hilt and first two-thirds of the blade. This allows the balance to be placed far from the grip, giving the blade a surprising amount of cutting power while remaining fast and responsive. Overall, a fantastically fun sword with surprising power and quickness. The brass guard and pommel are salt water etched, and the blade is 5160. Specifications: Weight: (forgot to obtain; roughly two pounds) Overall Length: 35.125in (892.18mm) Guard Length: 1.804in (45.83mm) Guard Width: 3.152in (80.05mm) Pommel Length: 1.977in (50.21mm) Handle Length 7.5in (190.5mm) Blade Width at Base: 1.339in (34mm) Blade Width at Tip: .663in (16.84mm) Blade Thickness at Base: .261in (6.64) Blade Thickness at Tip: .114in (2.89) Center of Gravity: 3.74in (95mm) Forward Pivot Point: 16.75in from base (425.45mm) Center of Percussion: 17.75in (450.85mm)

Hello everyone. Forged Roman gladius (Pompeii). One of my favorite builds so far! I'm sorry to see this leave my shop and go to its new owner. Steel- 5160 Wood- Walnut Handle- Elk antler Overall Length- 28.5" Blade Length- 20.25" Blade Width- 1.8" Point of Balance- 2.5" from guard Weight- 1lb 11oz

I started this sword last Jan In Peter Johnssons sword class at tannery pond forge in NH. I got is as far as as rough assembly then it sat untill I had time ... well i decided to take the time and get it finished for my table at blade show in june, the blade is a little over 500 layer random pattern damascus of 15n20 and 1080, the furniture is nicely figured wrought and I set two 12mm carnelian cabochons in the pommel . the grip is a maple core with cord and leather wraps. the sword is a take down, and is held together with a pommel nut, that is shaped to appear as a peen block. enjoy, and you can check it out in person at table 21-o. Enjoy guys, pro pics to come

So nearly finished hunting knife. Getting prepped for a major work that will hopefully be the finest blade I have ever made. Pulling out all the stops on this and going to take it slow and easy. First step was doing the design on paper. Took a bit of work and looks like it will come out as a nice sword. Going to make a wooden version to see how it looks put together. As for the Damascus pattern I'm hoping it will look good but time will tell. Going for a twisted core and plain Damascus on edges. And going to use Damascus for the guard and pommel with a wire wrapped hand grip.