- Joined
- Dec 27, 2013
- Messages
- 9,887
Hello all,
If one desires to make a sword, there are thousands of years' worth of sword history upon which to draw inspiration. Beautiful or bizarre, some are perfect and simple weapons, others are festooned with art or pomp, many are the product of countless generations of cultural bladesmithing evolution.
There aren't many historical examples that I don't want to replicate in my own style out of titanium alloy. However, the main pursuit is to develop a fine, well-balanced, tough sword in my own design, that seems to take full advantage of the beta titanium alloy chosen for the purpose. The latest round of this type of swords are about 32" in length, with blades around 24" for one or two-handed use.
Enter the Undergrowth Organizer. These blades are basically sword shapes that are naturally derived from the process of forging the alloy (rather than attempting to match the dimensions of a historical design), but with a simple grip that makes them useable as fancy machetes. Any of them could be further refined into a fully-hilted, balanced small sword, but this is neither necessary nor desired by folks who want to use them as a woodsman's tool, for backpacking or for general choppin' purposes.
An Undergrowth Organizer is normally about the size of a machete. Now, a great customer whose brazen enthusiasm and snide hilarity is nearly matched by his large stature has want of a full-on sword-sized UO. Below are some wip photos of his exact blade being made, that show the current state of the grand attempt to develop the beta titanium sword blade, made as a weapon of old days past.
After a bar is forged into a proto-sword billet with a sword shape encased (with distal taper), the high spots of the silhouette are knocked off.
A dig into the edge begins the blade-grinding process.
I work it into a B.A.R., or "Big-Ass Razor," leaving room for refinement.
When it's getting close, the tip profile is shaped.
The tip is still blunt in preparation for heat-treatment.
Here the blade has been worked at 50-grit, and is almost ready for a mark, followed by a bit more refinement at 100-grit, then heat-treatment.
Thanks for looking, more photos to follow on this project.
If one desires to make a sword, there are thousands of years' worth of sword history upon which to draw inspiration. Beautiful or bizarre, some are perfect and simple weapons, others are festooned with art or pomp, many are the product of countless generations of cultural bladesmithing evolution.
There aren't many historical examples that I don't want to replicate in my own style out of titanium alloy. However, the main pursuit is to develop a fine, well-balanced, tough sword in my own design, that seems to take full advantage of the beta titanium alloy chosen for the purpose. The latest round of this type of swords are about 32" in length, with blades around 24" for one or two-handed use.
Enter the Undergrowth Organizer. These blades are basically sword shapes that are naturally derived from the process of forging the alloy (rather than attempting to match the dimensions of a historical design), but with a simple grip that makes them useable as fancy machetes. Any of them could be further refined into a fully-hilted, balanced small sword, but this is neither necessary nor desired by folks who want to use them as a woodsman's tool, for backpacking or for general choppin' purposes.
An Undergrowth Organizer is normally about the size of a machete. Now, a great customer whose brazen enthusiasm and snide hilarity is nearly matched by his large stature has want of a full-on sword-sized UO. Below are some wip photos of his exact blade being made, that show the current state of the grand attempt to develop the beta titanium sword blade, made as a weapon of old days past.
After a bar is forged into a proto-sword billet with a sword shape encased (with distal taper), the high spots of the silhouette are knocked off.
A dig into the edge begins the blade-grinding process.
I work it into a B.A.R., or "Big-Ass Razor," leaving room for refinement.
When it's getting close, the tip profile is shaped.
The tip is still blunt in preparation for heat-treatment.
Here the blade has been worked at 50-grit, and is almost ready for a mark, followed by a bit more refinement at 100-grit, then heat-treatment.
Thanks for looking, more photos to follow on this project.
