48" Longsword in progress

[TarAlderion]

Hey everyone,

Thought I would drop in and post some pictures of the progress made on my latest piece.

Its a 48" longsword/hand-and-a half sword, 36" blade. 5160 spring steel. About 1 3/4" wide near the tang (might thin it up some however).

Here are some pictures of it rough forged, and some part-way through the rough grinding. I would say I am about 50%-65% done with the rough grinding (depending on if I adjust the profile or not). I still have to thin up the edges a bit and get the fuller running completly straight and uniform and grind out a few gouges and mis-shapen areas here and there. But its comming along nicely.

Anyway, let me know what you all think.

Graham

[yesteryearforge]

Now thats a good job

Mike Tanner

[ApprenticeMan]

Looks great you little upstart.

Haha seriously, loving the forged in fuller, I gotta make one of those jigs up soon. it's coming along really nicely I have one similar waiting for me to figure out a way to heat treat it hehe.

[Nick]

Wow, that's looking great. That's a fantastic looking tang. Is the fuller ground or forged in?

[ThomasPowers]

What's the weight at? Looks great.

[TarAlderion]

Thanks everyone.

Originally Posted by ApprenticeMan

Looks great you little upstart.

Haha seriously, loving the forged in fuller, I gotta make one of those jigs up soon. it's coming along really nicely I have one similar waiting for me to figure out a way to heat treat it hehe.

Sam, firstly... I am not little Secondly... don't start something you can't finish (like a knife or sword ). Heheh, just kidding. I have a similar problem when it comes to forging something out and letting it sit in the shop for a long long time. This sword was like that, had it about half way rough forged out almost a year ago, then didn't touch it. Finally thought it would be a good idea to try and finish it up.

As to fullering tools, spring fullers work alright, but I think that a guillotine type tool is a better idea, and probably what I will make in the future. Something like the one Mike donated on the first page would work perfectally. The guillotine style is more versitile, you can use it on more than one sized stock and dont have to worry about things not lining up when you drop the hammer on it. Plus, more efficient. The spring on the spring fuller can absorb some of your blow, but not with the guillotine.

After I get this beast rough ground I am going to set it aside and build a much needed long HT furnace. After I get that up and going I will probably try and shift my focus more towards swords and less towards knives... or, better yet more towards swords and knives.

Nick, the fuller was forged in, then cleaned up by hand with a file, and then some on the grinder (had to devise an attachement speciffically for cleaning up the fullers after I did one of them by hand).

Thomas, not sure on the current weight. I still have to do a decent amount of grinding which will probably lighten it up a bit, so havent bothered checking yet. I can tell you however, it weighs quite a bit less than the 4 lb sledge I drew it out with though .

[ApprenticeMan]

You going to build a Don Fogg style, or like a long multi burner gas forge, if you are going to build a multi burner just go with salts, much better for roughly the same expense.

[TarAlderion]

Sam, I was thinking of just going with a multi-burner that I can tune down really low. I would love to do a salt set up, but don't have the funds. I don't agree on the expense of a salt setup being the same for a multi-burner either. I already have the kaowool to line a multi-burner (ordered extra when I did my forge), and would make the burner's myself, for little expense. Overall, maybe $100 out of pocket (not including what I already have part-wise). A salt setup would push me way over that. Unless you have some sources that I don't know about. Unless I could do a salt setup for $250 or less, probably not going to happen for awhile.

[rthibeau]

Tar...when you get that knife closer to finished, I'd be interested to know how you fit it out with the furnishings...you know the fancy stuff...

[ApprenticeMan]

Originally Posted by TarAlderion

Sam, I was thinking of just going with a multi-burner that I can tune down really low. I would love to do a salt set up, but don't have the funds. I don't agree on the expense of a salt setup being the same for a multi-burner either. I already have the kaowool to line a multi-burner (ordered extra when I did my forge), and would make the burner's myself, for little expense. Overall, maybe $100 out of pocket (not including what I already have part-wise). A salt setup would push me way over that. Unless you have some sources that I don't know about. Unless I could do a salt setup for $250 or less, probably not going to happen for awhile.

Member here Garey Ford has built a high temp salt pot for cheaper than that, probably his high and low temp setups are both together cheaper than that, I'll see If I can get him to put his input in. Even if for a little bit more, then benefits FAR outweigh the little bit more cash. But if you are going to go for a forge style, go with the 55 gallon drum forge that Don Fogg uses, still MUCH more even heat than a multi burner forge, only requires one burner, a 55 gallon drum and some insulation(like what you already have).

GAREY WHERE ARE YAH!!?!??! GAREY FORD, PAGING GAREY FORD.