Gladius

[Collin Miller 136]

Hey guys! Just shipped this Gladius off to its new owner this afternoon. Been working on it on and off for a few months. The first blade I made was a bit too thin and I had so start over. About halfway through the finish grinding on the second blade, I broke my collarbone and had to take a few weeks off. It was hard staying out of the shop, but after that three weeks, the doctor said I could work again, so I eased back into it, and finished up the blade and hilt over the past couple of weeks. 

 

This is my first Gladius, first leaf blade. 21" blade, a little over 2" wide at the base, 1.3lbs overall. Thickness is about 0.210" at the base, hollow distal taper so that it's very fast, but very powerful and stiff. Hilt node is right behind the guard, a dog the blade node is right in the "sweet spot", where the leaf flares out again. 

 

80crv2 blade, antique American walnut for the guard and pommel, 16ga hammered copper guard and peen plate,  maple grip (freehand grinding all 32 of those facets on my non variable sleek grinder was a buttcheek clenching few hours). 

 

Hope you all like it! Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer. 

 

[Vern Wimmer 472]

Nicely done. I want one especially from 80CrV2. 

[Charles dP 478]

Nice clean work Collin. Looks good.

[Alan Longmire 2,746]

I wondered what you'd been up to, it's been a while.  And nice!  I like that long point, and that was smart of you to do the hollow taper.  That fails to occur to a lot of people, but makes so much difference!

Please tell me breaking your collarbone was not related to making this, though...

[Will Wilcox 262]

Very nice. I especially like the way the maple contrasts the walnut. 

[Jason McEntee 57]

That's pretty sweet.

[Collin Miller 136]

Thanks so much guys! 

8 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

I wondered what you'd been up to, it's been a while.  And nice!  I like that long point, and that was smart of you to do the hollow taper.  That fails to occur to a lot of people, but makes so much difference!

Please tell me breaking your collarbone was not related to making this, though...

I know! I need to hang out here more often, like I used to. So busy making swords that it's hard to find time to talk about them. 

 

Breaking my collarbone wasn't bladesmithing related  I had a pretty bad skateboard wreck and got scratched up a bit, but after three weeks the doctor told me I could work again. Bit of a time crunch finishing up commissions and getting ready for BLADE at this point, but I'll figure it out 

[Zeb Camper 780]

Cool! It lookes very well done. Will there be a scabbard? 

[Collin Miller 136]

17 hours ago, Zeb Camper said:

Cool! It lookes very well done. Will there be a scabbard? 

Thanks! My customer talked about having a scabbard made, so I guess we will see 

[Sam Salvati 76]

Barrel furnace treating you right it seems.

[Collin Miller 136]

On 4/30/2018 at 8:24 PM, Sam Salvati said:

Barrel furnace treating you right it seems.

Absolutely! It's an awesome piece of equipment, the quality and consistency of my heat treat has gone through the roof since switching to the barrel and professional quenchants, as opposed to the forge and canola oil.

[MatthewBerry 68]

Very nice!  Makes me want to give one a try

[Sam Salvati 76]

On 5/3/2018 at 12:13 AM, Collin Miller said:

Absolutely! It's an awesome piece of equipment, the quality and consistency of my heat treat has gone through the roof since switching to the barrel and professional quenchants, as opposed to the forge and canola oil.

Heck yeah Brother, keep it up.