Longsword buildalong

The Blade

The blade that I'm using for this project is a Hanwei/Tinker longsword blade that I ordered from Kult of Athena. It's 5160 Marquenched spring steel (meaning that the steel is quenched and tempered in a molten salt bath, as opposed to conventional oven tempering). The business end is 36" long and the tang is 12" long and a beefy 1/4'' thick. The tang is threaded, but we won't be using it for this project.

It was about $100 delivered to my door.

Another shot of the blade.

Notice the fuller- it functions much like an I-beam. It lightens the blade without an undue compromise in strength. Earlier swords had much more pronounced fullers. This blade would belong in the late medieval or early renaissance period, and is primarily geared towards thrusting, as opposed to slashing or chopping.

The pommel blank

It's a great big lug of 1018 steel. It's a piece from a hex bar, and I think it was 1.75'' in diameter.

Just another (blurry) shot of the pommel.

Pommel and guard material

The longer pieces will make the crossguard- the part of the sword that separates your opponent's blade from your hand. They're bars of 1018 steel, .75" thick. The material for the pommel and guard were ordered from Online Metals.

I ordered two of everything because I am notoriously prone to screw-ups of legendary proportions.

Beginning to fit the guard

I drilled a few holes into the bar and opened them up into a rectangular slot with some needle files so that it fits the tang.

A little more progress.

Fitting it further.

I've also done some grinding here.

More grinding.

At this point, I've stopped fitting the guard further up the tang.

The final fit of the guard to the tang will be accomplished with a big sledgehammer.

Some more grinding.

I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the crossguard at this point, so I just sort of went to town with my belt sander and files.

More grinding.

Still more grinding.

I had finally settled on a profile and cross section that I wanted to use for the guard. It fades into an octagonal cross section towards the tips of the guard. This was largely done with draw filing, as I was worried about removing too much material.

Getting there.

The guard is pretty much evened out at this point.

Not bad.

Yeah, I'm showing off.

The blade shoulders

Here, I'm beginning to cut the slot for the blade shoulders to rest in when the guard is fully seated. It creates a pleasing transition from hilt to blade when the sword is fully assembled.

Getting there.

I used a Dremel and a set of needle files for this, and it was just as much of a nerve-wracking pain in the ass as it looks.

Ready to be seated.

Guard is seated.

To do this, I clamped the blade in a padded vise and slid on the crossguard, followed by a steel pipe.

I followed the steel pipe with many blows from a colossal hammer.

This force-fitting method is how Albion assembles their swords, and how most decent swords would have been made in the olden days.

At this point, the sword made a beautiful, clear ring when tapped with a hammer. This indicates that all parts are tightly fitted and are vibrating as one unit.

Beginning work on the pommel

I buggered up one of the pommels, so I sent this one off to be bored on a lathe.

This is called a "scent stopper" pommel, so named because it resembles the cork, or "stopper", on a bottle of "scent", which is what we plebeians would call perfume.

Refining the shape

After several hours with a belt grinder, it's starting to look alright.

It was really challenging to keep all six facets even and also concentric to the hole through the center.

In this shot, the semi-completed pommel is just resting on top of the tang.

The finished pommel.

Excuse the sub-par photography- I largely work outdoors, and it's hard to see the screen of my phone when I take a picture. It's sort of a shot in the dark.

The tang has been ground to a round profile to accept the pommel.

The pommel is "keyed" to fit the tang, so that it doesn't slide around once the sword is assembled. This is done by filing the hole in the pommel to a slightly rectangular shape, so that it fits on the first half inch or so of the tang after the rounded-off section.

Notice the countersink on top. This is done so that the tang has somewhere to go during the...

Hot peen.

The tang is passed through the pommel, which is then seated in a manner similar to the guard. The protruding tang is then blasted with a torch and hammered, or "peened" into the countersink, firmly locking the pommel in place.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that the crossguard came loose during this operation (wailing on things with a hammer tends to have that affect). I corrected this by fabricating two small wedges that were then pounded between the crossguard and fuller and peened with a center-punch so that they mushroomed out against the tang. Even through some test cutting and fencing drills, the guard has yet to loosen up.

It's not at all uncommon to find medieval swords that have the crossguards wedged in this manner- some swords even have bits of wood jammed under the guard.

The wooden core

I didn't get many pictures of this process as I was operating under a time constraint, but the core is comprised of four pieces of 1/4" poplar. They are arranged in such a manner that they encapsulate the tang, which is also 1/4" thick. Two pieces sit on either side of the tang, aligned with the crossguard, and then one piece is fitted atop these two, and another is fitted to the "bottom" of the assembly.

Alternatively, you can use what's called a bifurcated core, which is just two pieces with a cutout for the tang.

Hemp cord underwrap

After I'm satisfied with the grip shape, the wooden core is painted with glue and then tightly wrapped with hemp cord. This not only strengthens the grip, but also adds extra detail and definition to the leather overwrap.

Just another shot of the cord underwrap.

You can see my attempt at making a riser if you look near the guard and the pommel- that's a piece of leather lace glued onto the core. It didn't turn out very well, but it's supposed to aid in grip and generally look nice when the sword is finished.

The grip is wrapped in leather.

I fought with this for a long time before I decided to do something a little unconventional.

Most production swords (with the exception of Baltimore Knife and Sword) are wrapped with one seam in the leather, which often runs down the side of the grip. I could not, for the life of me, get the leather to behave properly to do this.

Instead, I cut a long strip of leather and spiral wrapped the grip.

To wrap the grip, I soaked my leather in warm water for a bit and then painted the hemp-covered core with wood glue, then anchored one end of the leather with superglue and wrapped it.

Next, I took the same hemp cord and tightly wrapped the entire handle again while it was still wet (leather forms when it is wet). This compresses the leather into the glue and also leaves a nice, ridged surface, which aids in grip.

Finished grip

The grip has been dyed and cleaned up a bit.

All done.

Sharpening was done with 500 grit paper backed with a scrap piece of wood. A sword shouldn't be sharpened to a knife-like edge, but rather an "appleseed" or convex edge. This is a thicker edge that is designed to shear through heavy targets (i.e. arms) without undue damage to the edge.

Just another glamour shot.

And that damn hammer has photobombed me again.

The point of balance is about 3" or so from the guard, which is about right for this kind of thrusting longsword. Feels nice and agile in the hand.

Not sure how much it weighs, as I don't have a scale that can weigh it, but I'm guessing that it's around 2.5 or 3 pounds.

One last shot.

This was my first sword that I've ever built (and first imgur post!), and I learned a lot.

I just thought that you guys might enjoy the fruits of my new hobby.

I'd love to hear some critiques or questions.

Till next time.

Front Page Edit: Wow, thanks Imgur! You guys made my day! I'm glad you all enjoyed it. I'll be sure to document the next build in the same manner.