My first sword (in progress)

[latvius]

I bought a sword kit from Halberds over on the Armor Archive a year or so ago. The kit included the profile of the blade, crosspiece, and pommel which was all cut out. I had plans on doing a stock removal method but never got around to it. Then I made a forge and acquired an anvil and tools and since I am having fun forging things I decided to try a blade. I’ve read as a beginner I should start with a knife, but since I already had this on hand it was either make it or go buy some more steel to start with something smaller. So I figured what the heck why not give it a try. I learned a ton of things and I broke the tang off at one point and had to forge it anew, so now it is about 8 inches shorter than what I had to start with.

This is where I am at so far and having a lot of fun making it. Hard work but fun.
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=358109

[SWE_Karl]

Latvius:
i´d looked at the sword, and eaven that you bought a "kit" ( dont know the english word or spelling for the right word i´m looking for ) it´s not the esiest ting to start whit a sword. hope you´r not giving up whit the forging and frome us in the blacksmith Volund: god luck!
Ps: i´t looked god.
\\ SWE_Karl

[oakwoodforge]

Looks Goood Latavius, I usualy get in trouble around heat treat time with something that big The forging is fun though ! Btw: What Kind of steel are you using ?

Jens

[latvius]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. If this doesn’t turn out well, it’s not a big deal. My intentions for this blade are to make it a wall hanger anyways. I really don’t have a way to heat treat it so for the immediate future I am going to just rough grind and work on the fittings and go from there. If it never gets heat treated its ok too.
The steel is 5160 spring steel.
Since I had so much fun hammering out the sword I bought some steel to make a knife. If the sword gives my grief I can always put it in the drawer and start on a knife

[bipolarandy]

WOW, thats a cool lookin sword, i hope you finish it.
Could you post the site that you bought the kit off of.
-Andrei

[latvius]

Andrei I bought it from Halberds (That’s a guys username) over on the ArmourArchive website, you could send him a private message, he is real nice. I don’t know if he sells them anymore though.

My advice though is buy this book if you don’t already have it, before you buy anything else.
Complete Bladesmith : Forging Your Way To Perfection (Hardcover) by Jim Hrisoulas

If I had to do over I probably would not have bought the kit. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but I can make anything that came in it (now). I guess it depends on what you want to do and what resources you have available to you.