uddha sword breakdown (adding a gaurd)

Josh Muller

Josh Muller

Joined
Jun 22, 2003
Messages
3,049
uddha_sword_original.jpg


uddha_sword_breakdown.jpg


uddha_sword_breakdown2.jpg


broke down the handle of my antler handled uddha sword (hope its okay to post these pics). construction = full tang, with the antler slabs being held on by a grey epoxy of some kind (grey laha?) and pinned with steel rods (that look like they were custom made at the shop). the brass bolster has 2 peices of wood filler to keep its form, allso held on by the grey epoxy, and the brass bolster ring is soldered together.

i used a screwdriver and a dremel to cut down the tops of the pins and pry the slabs off once they were softened a little by boiling.

next up, is to make a gaurd like the onces seen on the patang and the himalayan sword out of that bar of 440c, and then to replace the steel pins with brass tubes. all of wich being held on by 5minute epoxy (not because i recomend it particularly, just becuase thats what i have).

dont nkow when im going to get around to the gaurd though... hopefully within 2 weeks.




*edit to add original phtoto*
 
This is an awesome project.:thumbup: I am so glad you are doing it. I will be watching with great anticipation. Please go to Walmart and get a 30 minute, or even a 2 hour epoxy. They have Devcon 2 hour for less than three dollars at Wal-Marts in Georgia. If they don't have it I'll mail you a tube on me.;) A five minute epoxy is going to make you rush assembly, and dry soft. Get a hard drying epoxy. ;) :)

Edited to add... Oh I want an Uddha Sword!!!! Its the sword that calls tome. I'd want satistal. MMMMMMMM
 
Do NOT tell Spectre where you live!

He's been jonesing for an uddha with a guard for quite a while.

He IS a trained warrior.

Watch the shadows
 
I love project photo and detail posts. They make for some seriously interesting and informative reading and viewing.

Thanks for sharing :)
 
Man, you have some cojones Seth! I would be terrified of ruining my Uddha antler, although I think this is a great mod. I wouldn't have any idea how to approach this. Can't wait to see the results, as well as get an education on exactly how you did it.

Thanks,

Norm
 
wow, what a project, ditto what svashtar said, you must have some stones to mod that beauty ;)
 
Svashtar said:
Man, you have some cojones Seth! I would be terrified of ruining my Uddha antler, although I think this is a great mod. I wouldn't have any idea how to approach this. Can't wait to see the results, as well as get an education on exactly how you did it.

Thanks,

Norm
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the bueaty of it is that i dont have a work space to do any of it, im doing it in our landing (laundry room) by our front door. my tools = a dremel, a hammer, some masking tape, a slotted (flathead) screwdriver, and some sand paper

the way the gaurds look on the other swords, you should be able to cut a rectangle out of the center of the gaurd that will fit the larges part of the handle, and then fill in the empty space with epoxy once you have it in place. after that, put the wood peices back into place (i'll have to make new ones, possibly filling in much of the gap with epoxy) and slip the brass bolster ring onto it, hammer into place and fill the cut line with epoxy so its smooth all the way around.

after im think it will be pretty easy. slip the brass tubes into place, slip the handles on to them, fill the space between handle and steel with epoxy, let set. i'll probably then fill the brass tubes themselves with epoxy instead of leaving them as open tubes.

it doesnt seem like it will be to hard. and if it is - i'll see about getting another one and just leaving it as is :)


i may also end up curving out the handle to blade juxtoposition to remove a potential stressor
 
VERY COOL! Man you've got guts. Really looking forward to following this thread. Better hope the Kami isn't watching. Just kidding.
 
The guys are spot on Seth, you do have one helluva set of cajones to tackle a project like this!!!! :eek:
Personally I'd have to think long and hard about doing it and then take a ton of measurements and think long and hard again.

My first concern is the width of the tang at the top where the guard is going to have to pass over.
It's entirely possible that the width of the groove that needs to be in the guard will be wide enough to pass over blade itself and that won't be good at all! :eek: :thumbdn:

If it were me I'd more than likely make the guard from a good carbon or low carbon steel such as a piece of car spring or the soft 1018 that you can buy at the local lumber yards, Lowe's, Home Depot, and the like.
The reason being is that it can be soldered, silver soldered, or even brazed.
By using either of these materials or even something in between it would give me the option of making the guard in more than one piece.

The main part of the guard could be fitted to the spine and sides of the blade and then a small sliver could be fitted to the main part of the guard and to the sharp side of the blade.
If it were excellently fitted it could be silver soldered on and the very small seam wouldn't be hardly at all noticeable to the average person!!!!

Of course it might be entirely feasible to silver solder the 440 Series Stainless as well but the stainless is really unnecessary since the blade and tang are subject to rusting it wouldn't hurt if the guard was as well.
Just some thoughts from an old fart making sure you have thought things through extensively.:thumbup: ;) :D :cool:
 
Yvsa said:
My first concern is the width of the tang at the top where the guard is going to have to pass over.
It's entirely possible that the width of the groove that needs to be in the guard will be wide enough to pass over blade itself and that won't be good at all! :eek: :thumbdn:
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i think that i still have enough 2 ton epoxy to do all of this...

my himalayan swords gaurd has a large enough hole in it that were the laha not filling it, it would slip up onto the blade.

on this particular uddha sword, the bottom portion of the handle is 44mm, and the blade itself is 45mm, and probably not going to be able to maintain a 1mm precision using the tools im using.

the back of the blade has a shoulder for the gaurd to rest on, so im not to worried about the back. on the front, were the gaurd to be hit really hard in an upward motion (towards the blade) its possible that were the gaurds epoxy to break and completely come off, the blade could sink into the gaurds hole, wich would result in my hand possibly slipping onto the edge *though as it is your hand has the chance of hitting the bottom of the edge, the corner where the handle meets the blade*, as well as the gaurd itself messing up the very bottom portion of the edge.

what i can do however, wich i probably will, is make a groove in both sides where the blade bottom could slip through, and put a thin of 440c underneath the blade shoulder (on top of the gaurd), wich would prevent it from slipping should the epoxy break.

that is a very good point though, one that i hadnt considered. i was just assuming i would fill the whole with epoxy and call it good, but doing the bar to make sure it wont slip up in the event of catastrophy is a much better idea.
 
Soldering stainless requires special stuff. Stay-Brite solder and flux work well, and will work with a small propane torch at low enough temperature to not draw the blade's temper - if it's clamped in a vise to act as a heat sink.
Good luck with the project. It is a gutsy thing to attempt.
 
i dont have anywhere where i'd feel okay using a torch at all, so everything is going to be done with epoxy. went and bought 3 things of 2 ton, and 3 things of extended set 2 ton epoxy. if i can find my spoon of brass wire, wich i think i left at my house when i moved, i may try inlaying the engravings with brass... apperently its a very difficult thing to get these days, at least in general hardware stores.
 
Do NOT tell Spectre where you live!
He's been jonesing for an uddha with a guard for quite a while.
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Dammit, Kismet. How do you remember this stuff?! :D

John
 
it is not easy to cut a square cornered rectangle in a 1/8" peice of steel with a dremel when you dont have a vice or anything to clamp it to.

hopefully i'll have the gaurd it cut out by monday night.
 
Spectre said:
Dammit, Kismet. How do you remember this stuff?! :D

John
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The man is a walking record of all things said and done in the Cantina as well as 73.46% of all things writen posing as an old guy that just keeps saying, "I don't know nothin' 'bout nothin':, but can still point to an exact day and time the most obscure thing was mentioned in print...still, he just can't seem to find a good way to stew up one of them there funny ant eater things;)
Seth, good luck with that project. I mean, taking on the Uddha is enough, but factoring in the scrimshaw!:eek: Very cool:) Good luck to you, sir:)

Jake
 
why is there such a reaction to the uddha sword in particular?

while if i put a gaurd into an ang khola im sure i would get a reaction, it just seems like im getting much much more then i would expected, and there are a lot of comments regarding this particular uddha sword...

i understand why doing it to a scrimshawed version would be potentially bad as apposed to doing it to a standard model, but it seems like the model itself is also part of it...

i say this having seen quite a few uddha swords come down the line in the past month or so....
 
Don't get me wrong, please- I LIKE the idea!

And I had a guard put on an extra beefy AK...hm...
 
Seth, it's your project, and I'm just an outsider looking in, but can I ask you something (maybe even add a suggestion)? Hope you don't mind me doing so.

My question, why did you choose to use hollow brass tubes?

A suggestion, maybe you would consider cutting down your required handle pins from solid brass stock. This would eliminate your needing to fill those tubes with epoxy, and would probably look better overall in the finished product.

Just my 2 cents :) I normally don't suggest anything to anyone on their projects, since it is "THEIR" project (unless they are asking for opinions or advice), but felt compelled to do so on this minor detail. Sorry for if I'm butting in ;)

Thanks again for sharing the project details and all :)
 
JimmyJimenez said:
Seth, it's your project, and I'm just an outsider looking in, but can I ask you something, maybe even add a suggestion (hope you don't mind).

My question, why did you choose to use hollow brass tubes?

My suggestion, maybe you would consider cutting down your required handle pins from solid brass stock. This would eliminate you needing to fill with epoxy, and would overall probably look better in the finished product.

Just my 2 cents :) I normally don't suggest anything to anyone on their projects, since it is "THEIR" project (unless they are asking for opinions or advice), but felt compelled to do so on this minor detail. Sorry for if I'm butting in ;)

Thanks again for sharing the project details and all :)
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cause i wasnt thinking when i ordered them :D thats the only real reason. i would rather have solid brass pins, but you work with what you have.
 
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