My First Sword!

[Tim Scarlatti 0]

lol, Not quite what you expected is it? I made this one on a whim a few weeks ago. I have Hans Tolfhoffers book on medieval combat on loan from the library and I figured that I might as well make a practice sword. I need another one and a friend to mess around with. I'll be making his twin sometime this or next week. Made the blade, tang, and pommel from northwest cedar. The reinforcement, crossguard, and grips are all white oak. It's finished with amber shellac and poyurenthane.

[Mark Green 17]

Looks like fun! Watch your fingers.

[Scott A. Roush 18]

Making swords (and fittings) from wood is great practice. Much more forgiving.. but also faster to waste away when making mistakes. If I were you I would keep working at this and take the approach of making a fully finished piece. Wooden swords ground with the care of steel look beautiful and can be stand alone works of art.

[Gus 0]

Nicely crafted! The execution is at the highest level. This is some work of art.

[Tim Scarlatti 0]

Nicely crafted! The execution is at the highest level. This is some work of art.

wow thanks so much, but I purposefully excluded close up shots of the hilt lest you see my shoddy glue job and alignment. The wood was also partially rotten (unusual for cedar, but it's old). I had to fill a lot of the problem spots and the reinforcement is neccesary for the integrity of the sword in combat. I used oak for the guard since it is very strong and not likely to snap on impact. The choice for reinforcing the grips and blade was obvious. In short, the wood was scrap and thus had to be scraped or preserved in its rotten spots, reinforced for impacts, and made to be reformed. I made this with scrap with the intention of it being destroyed in pitched battle. I have observed in Talhoffer's book very brutal, violent combat that wood (pun intended) break or severly dent this at the very least. Cedar was not ideal since it's soft, but I didn't have oak boards long enough to do this (longest I have is some old stairs that are about 28-30"). Cedar is however very light and using it just to practice cuts, thrusts, and guards is easy and fun. It remains to be tested in battle.

[Ian martin 0]

I bet that took forever to forge......lol. I have wanted to make a claymore out of wood forever, fuller included. looks amazing!