Blades of the wyvern hunter wip

[Gerhard Gerber]

Someday, when I'm all grown up.........my failures will turn out as good as this 

[Bjorn Gylfason]

10 hours ago, Francis Gastellu said:

Looking good! Do you grind your fullers freehand on a narrow wheel? I've always been too scared to try that... it requires skills

 

I don't have any wheels small enough on the grinder for these and because I like to make curved blades I've gotten used to just using my die grinder to free hand them in. The first few passes are the hard ones but once they are in it goes pretty fast

[Alan Longmire]

2 hours ago, Bjorn Gylfason said:

just using my die grinder to free hand them in.

 

 

 

Not even a little guide finger thingy like Peter Johnsson uses?  

[Bjorn Gylfason]

4 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

 

 

 

Not even a little guide finger thingy like Peter Johnsson uses?  

 

I do remember seeing that and thought it was brilliant and I really should build an adjustable guide to clamp on the die grinder. But then again I always forget about it until I'm about to make some fullers 

 

 

[Joshua States]

5 hours ago, Bjorn Gylfason said:

I really should build an adjustable guide to clamp on the die grinder.

It only takes about 15 minutes to bend a piece of flat stock and a couple of hose clamps.

 

[Bjorn Gylfason]

Got the materials for the guard cut out and fitted to the tang. So now I'm trying to decide on what kind of cutouts and filework they should have

[Bjorn Gylfason]

That felt like eternity. Reliefs cut on the front part of the guard, remind me to get a jewelers saw before I do something like this again 

 

Next will be another eternity with files to get some depth and shape to it and then repeat on the back half

[Eric Estlund]

I feel like my whole adult life had been rubbing on stuff to make it into different stuff. Looking good.

[Bjorn Gylfason]

Going to be filing away on the large guard for the next days.

 

But here's a peen

 

And a cleaned peen

 

 

Have the grip core formed so next will be adding some risers and do some leatherwork while I figure out what kind of scabbard it will get

 

[J.Arthur Loose]

Cool. 

[Bjorn Gylfason]

Been shaping the front half of the guard today. Was taking forever with the files so while rummaging through my drawers looking for something useful I came across a box of these tiiiiny mill bits. No recollection where I got them from but chucked them into the Dremel and they seem to work great for bulk removal of materials

 

Still going to take a day or two more of filing to get the face of the plate where I want it

 

[Bjorn Gylfason]

Day 4 of this guard, still a lot to do to the individual pieces before assembly and then there will be even more filing after that too 

 

The back plate has a different design that I'm still getting the shape of but four of the holes match up with the front and will be opened up on the horn pieces as well

[Bjorn Gylfason]

Assembled the guard, took the guard off the wakiseax and did a pretty rough 150grit finish on both followed by a light buff. I think that should give me a good base for that patina I have in mind

 

Then, as the waki has a habaki that also needs patina I put the guard back on it and now I'm letting both fume overnight with ammonia.

 

That will just be the first phase of patina on them as there will be more brass fittings on the grips. Plan is to then give those fittings the same treatment before assembly and then once everything is together they will get more cycles to get an even finish and Matt out any bright spots from various peening and nailing

[Bjorn Gylfason]

This looks like a good solid base for further steps 

[Alan Longmire]

1 hour ago, Bjorn Gylfason said:

This looks like a good solid base for further steps

 

Yes.  Yes it does. 

[Bjorn Gylfason]

Went on with sanding the blade yesterday and then left it overnight in fresh vinegar acid.

 

In retrospect I see that next time I'll need to make the twisted parts longer and straight sections shorter on the middle bars and the edgebar could have been smaller as well. 

 

Now the question is wether and how I could weather and antique the blades up to fit the old and worn look?

[Alan Longmire]

1 hour ago, Bjorn Gylfason said:

Now the question is wether and how I could weather and antique the blades up to fit the old and worn look

 

First, degrease thoroughly, then wipe them with chlorine bleach.  This will cause pitting.  Next, lean them against the wall and urinate on them.  This adds a rich brown patina if you do it carefully for a few days in a row.  Then you can polish them back as bright as you want, leaving the patina in the hard to reach areas.

 

Crude but effective! 

[Brian Dougherty]

Wow, I had some catching up to do on this thread.  I've enjoyed this one, but always wait until I have some time to really read it before checking in.  Great progress, and craftsmanship!  

 

Oh, would someone remind me to never eat with any of Alan's period looking pieces?

 

[Doug Lester]

It's an historical method of browning steel.  Boil the steel in water and you will have a black patina.  Of course you can substitute muratic acid for pee.

 

Doug

[Alan Longmire]

9 hours ago, Doug Lester said:

Of course you can substitute muratic acid for pee.

 

But where's the fun in that? 

[Bjorn Gylfason]

Wakiseax grip sewn on and it's sheath is taking shape. Looks like a few days of drilling and filing for the metal fittings will be needed

 

 

And got the wooden core for the sword shaped and only need to wrap a few hundred meters of threads still before giving it a coat of glue.

 

After measuring back and forth along with much brainstorming I ended up with a much shorter grip than I had thought of at some point. It's still massive though  but brings the overall length down to something that could be easily carried on your side

[Bjorn Gylfason]

Got the pins peened on the waki grip and added a buttplate.

 

 

 

To help with the aged look I chose a dye that is quite hard to apply evenly and went out of my way to apply it as unevenly and badly as I could

 

 

And of course I was out of the thickness of brass I want to use for the sheath fitting  will brush the guard up a little bit and once everything is peened on I'll give it some more fuming to even out the patina and hopefully even get some of it to stain onto the leather.

 

 

Then I sewed up the grip and wrapped parts of it while burnishing the long part to shape it to the core. Planning on some tooling and fanciness there.

 

 

and while letting it dry I began prep for the scabbard core. It is oh so much easier with a bare blade.

 

 

And I'm using the excuse that this is pure fantasy to experiment a bit with the scabbard. Sword will be carried edge up, probably with a baldric. Both sheath and scabbard will be ambidextrous both because being a lefty myself it's convenient and to give more options on as to how the wyvern hunter would have carried his blades

[Bjorn Gylfason]

well, got the first half all done. Getting a little stressed with time so further patinination will have to wait for now

[Christopher Price]

On 4/29/2022 at 7:59 AM, Alan Longmire said:

 

First, degrease thoroughly, then wipe them with chlorine bleach.  This will cause pitting.  Next, lean them against the wall and urinate on them.  This adds a rich brown patina if you do it carefully for a few days in a row.  Then you can polish them back as bright as you want, leaving the patina in the hard to reach areas.

 

Crude but effective! 

Ahh, Tai Goo's old-fashioned Pisspatina!

[Alan Longmire]

33 minutes ago, Christopher Price said:

Ahh, Tai Goo's old-fashioned Pisspatina!

 

As taught to me by Hershel House several years before Tai described it.