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Well here goes nothing and I expect many people cutting the idea down but oh well I have always been know to do things this way.

 

I am looking for as many tips and tricks as possible to enable me to forge out a replica of frostmourne a sword origionaly made as a single handed blade but a friend of mine wants it to be a two handed monster. Here is a picture of the blade itself.

Frostmourne_Sculpt_by_31883milesperhour.

 

the dimensions he wants for this blade are as such.

Width 110mmm just after the last two little horns

Witdh 150mm between largest side horns

Length 1095mm

thickness of blade 14mm

handle 400mm from end of handle to beggining of blade

Guard  400mm from end of skull to end of skull

I will be using a length of 14mm by 1000mm by 800mm spring steel as the original billet

 

Pretty  XXXX big at a total of 1500mm almost as tall as me.

 

I know what I am asking is ridiculous but who ever got anywhere the easy way. With this project and all of my others I will be learning many of the skills I will need.

I always seem to over do things but its the way I learn. 

 

So please any suggestions, tips, tricks or comments are welcome.

I am especially in need of some commentary on the tang and hilt of the sword as the blade I can do without to much trouble.

 

Thank you all for your help it will be much apreciated.

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That is a fantasy sord it's form is not reflective of real forging methods. It is also not designed in logical way that reflects a knowledge of the craft. I suppose you could craft it from substitute materials to get that look but steel is not even that color. Or if you wanted to do several days of grinding you could get something sort of close.

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If you really want that shape I would heavily consider drawing the profile of the blade and tang, then contacting a company that laser or water jet or plasma cuts. Send them your design and dimensions  Choose a new steel that will work and is the right thickness. I think the quickest beveling would be done with a nice belt grinder, but a lot of work can be done with a 4.5" angle grinder and good new sharp files.

 

I think this would be the cheapest and most efficient way of making this item.

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 I dont see why forging it would be such a problem.

If you're looking for someone here to tell you, hey, no problem Razz this is how I whipped one out you're going to draw a blank. Even forging a strait double edged sword requires allot of experience and skill.......I'd get it plaz or waterjet cut and then do some forging or stock removal to get it to shape. 

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The colour is not something I am going for, just the shape. That is just a rendered image in high definition. I dont see why forging it would be such a problem. there are many horned blades that have been forged.


Try forging it and you will see why it's a problem. It's not a job for a beginner working in a shade tree smithy.
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The colour is not something I am going for, just the shape. That is just a rendered image in high definition. I dont see why forging it would be such a problem. there are many horned blades that have been forged.

 

Many have been forged by you?  How long have you been making swords,  or any forge work?  Have you even read anything in the knife making classes here or referances?  trolls dont last too long here, Time will tell.   

 

If you really are serious, you should start learning the basics of IFI posting as well as how to forge, and then you may understand why you got these type of reply's. Also I edited your post for bad language.

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Sorry bout the bad language, didn't know that was such an offensive word. If i wasn't passionate why did I just spend almost all of my day at my forge when I could and it wasn't raining? Just because I have decided on a very difficult project doesn't necessarily mean ill fail? If Einstein didn't press on he would have achieved nothing. I am also interested as to your troll comment? Is it aimed at me?

 

And yes of course I have been reading the knife making forums, almost backwards I am not an idiot who fires up a jet engine without reading and re-reading the manual many times, I might be the idiot though who tries it and succeeds. I have been to a few knife making seminars as well. This is my passion and it will stay that way. I am learning the basics at the same time as tackling this project. If I fail I will learn more than a few lessons as to why. If I succeed? Well then its another thing I can add to my life's achievements and a goal passed.

 

I asked for constructive advice and if all I am going to get is nay sayers then I will refrain from keeping this post going. I will however bring it back to life once I have failed or passed. 

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That is not a sword that is feasible to forge.  Nearly all "fantasy" swords are wonderfully imaginative, but ridiculously impractical.

You have been given constructive advice.  The issue is that your project is so far out of the realm of realistic blacksmithing.  You might be able to forge the blade, but the hilt and crossguard would have to be cast, or produced by modern manufacturing practices.

Not a job for a beginner.

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Well now, lets not be all jump all over the dude. If I look at this as a piece of sculpture it is doable with some work. First off I'd do some rough forging of the  basic blade shape and then perhaps forge weld all those fancy little spikes and horns on, next would come the real work on the danged thing, making all those little spiky bits look nice. Man, would that ever be a lot of hand work for me. I'm sure a lot of you would just get out the 4" hand grinder but me I'm kind of old school and still like to use files for this kind of thing. I know that there may other ways of doing this but that's how as a sculptor I start with it. The hilt and all that other fancy stuff up there could be cast out of silicon bronze. Yeah, I think as a straight piece of art it is no big problem to forge this thing, just time and effort and as blacksmiths that what we are good at, right?

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Thank you bentiron for your advice, that will really come in handy. Would it not be possible just to draw out the spikes a little and then spend a while filing them to proper shape? Those two up top I plan on spliting like you would split like a fork with three prongs, the two outside for the two blades and the center one for the tang.

Maillemaker I have done the casting process many times so it will not be new to me and as a matter of fact that is exactly how I was going to make all those decorative little bits on the handle. I know that it would be madness tp even try forge all that decoration. Im an idiot in terms of project choice but im not that stupid.

I have actually spent hours and days planning this, researching how others have done it (and yes others have done it go take a look google is a wondefull place) and in general been preparing myself for this task.

At the moment I am typing this up on my phone as my pc got blown up by lightning not 20 mins ago. So replys and posts will be few and far between till I get my pc fixed.

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I definitely see the appeal of trying to make a replica of a cool fantasy sword. I too play WoW (just look at the profile pic), and I too once tried to make a cool fantasy sword, one even simpler than this, out of a leaf spring. I too thought that I would be an exception to needing years of experience and practice. I made a fairly decently sized "Katana," and it actually held up pretty well. It did end up a ton more curved than I intended, the handle was crooked, the bevel was all kinds of screwy, and in short, it wasn't nearly as cool as I thought it would be, as it was a SLO (Sword Like Object) instead of the masterpiece I had in mind. I came on here thinking of finding ideas and inspiration, but along with it came the same feedback you've received. I've gone back to the basics, and learned a lot more from working on smaller projects, still blade smithing related, but smaller; and I'm glad I did. I've learned so much, though there is still a lot left to learn. When I get some time this summer I may consider working on another longer-ish blade (machete lengthed or so), or maybe some pattern welded steel pieces.

 

But that was my experience, and something to reflect on. Here's my advice:

 

     Draw A LOT of designs first. You'll probably want to make the guard and skull piece of a separate, mild steel, that will be easy to shape when annealed. Make sure you have all of your measurements and everything for how wide holes need to be for the blade and fittings. If you can make a mold and cast some of the parts, that would help. For the runes on the blade, I would maybe try either using a very small grinder, like a dremel tool, or maybe heating it up and using some punches to get the rough shapes of the runes, then going back and rounding them out with needle files... you will most likely need an assistant to hold the blade while these are punched into the blade.

      Then, try making a 3/4 sized one out of aluminum. Aluminum is cheap, easy to work work with, etc. Maybe make multiple ones, trying different techniques for the horns/spikes and such. I would almost maybe try using a tap and die set to get the spikes on there, but that would require some accurate measurements to make sure they will overlap in the right places. If you have access to an arc welder, that could be good too. Then, attempt a steel version. I would assume that you would probably do a lot of stock removal, for the bevel, serrated edge, and parrying lugs. Again, you may even want to make your first at 3/4 size, out of a cheaper mild steel before you try using expensive stuff. With all of that, you'll be in for a heck of a project. Even with a well heated forge, good power hammer and/or hydraulic press, etc. making the final piece will take quite a bit of time, especially if you're only working on weekends, plus the time to make the 3/4 scale pieces. 

 

One thing that strikes me, and the main reason it should be a wall-hanger instead of an authentic battle weapon, is the handle appears to lack enough weight to counter the enormous blade. There's no real pommel on the end. Large swords did exist, but they were rare and had very large pommels to counter balance the heavy blades. (Ever try swinging a large cast iron skillet with one hand? lol)


Though I reccomend getting some more experience with smaller pieces and learning proper forging, filing, grinding, sanding, and polishing techniques, I wish you the best of luck. Have fun, and above all else, be safe! I truly hope this will be a wall-hanging piece only; leave the functioning pieces for Arthas!

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Could be done no problem, casting in bronze or aluminum for the hilt after making a model in wax, blade would be best cut out of sheet then ground. Dont listen to anyone else man, I used to get the same defeatest answers but stuck with it now I live the dream, making swords for a living! It wont be easy but it's totally doable. The blade ouwld be the easy part, modeling that whole hilt in wax then having it cast right would be tricky.

I believe the query Razzputin put fourth here was to: ''enable me to forge out a replica of frostmourne a sword''. No one here has said it can't be done and you haven't mentioned forging at all in your reply......

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That is very good advice Akad and I will be sure to use as much of it as possible. The preliminary planning has been going since last year november for this piece. I have been looking up all the different designs of the blade and hilt drawing and redrawing them. I have even reproduced it twice in TurboCAD so that I know my way around it. It has almost become burned into my memory.

The 3/4 pieces you speak of I will be doing shortly but before that I am going to be making lots of examples of the horns seperatly just to get the feeling of them. In terms of the welding idea do you sugest I make them seperatly and weld them on? As for an assistant the guy(from now on my patron) who is commisioning the piece wants to help me do it, he will be doing most of the heavy duty work of flattening the spring steel final while I am focusing more on the rine detail and the casting pieces.

The reason I don't want to cast the blade as you have sugested Sam is becaus I dont have the facilities on my property to do such large work. I have a friend who lets me use his shop for smaller pieces and thats where I will be doing the rams head and the two skulls on the crossguard. The rest of the hilt I can do in wood as thats what my patron has requested.

On experience of smaller work, its not as though I reject the idea, I am embrasing it whole heartedly. Every spare moment I have I am at my forge experimenting, practicing and learning. All of the knowledge on this site and from all of you wonderfull people who have shared it make my dream a reality. Thank you all for your comments and crits they mean a lot to me.

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 In terms of the welding idea do you sugest I make them seperatly and weld them on?

 

Perhaps. I'm trying to think of how that would work. Make the guard, the skull decoration and the curved horns that go around the guard all separate. It would take a lot of skill, but I think you could weld the skull to the guard, then loop the horns around guard as they are in the pic, and hold them in place with C clamps or something to the top of the skull, weld them onto the skull. But it would require accurate/solid welds. But once that was done, since the skull is on one side, you would be able to mount it onto the blade and handle according to the pic without much difficulty.

 

A lot of the detailing though would probably be done with the steel annealed with punches and tiny grinders (horn ridges, eye sockets, nostrils, runes, etc.) Casting the whole guard and skull may be an option too. Bronze would be easy enough, and could have a patina or something to make it a different color.

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You could also do like I have seen in some of the African arms, that is use a hot cut to make some splits in a wider blank than is necessary and then draw out the wider part of the blank until you have the length you want. It is use in pole arms and bore spears too, so it could be use for your spurs off to side of this sword also. Seems like there is more than one way to skin a sword. Get you iron and beat it till you succeed!

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Take a piece of steel, heat it up, beat it till it looks like what you want then quit. It's all in knowing when to quit.

Thanks Woody very sound advice and I live by it almost daily. 

 

Akad the idea for the decorative skull and horns is to cast them. I am nowhere near skilled enough to forge them.

Only one question on the casting though, what would the best way of securing it to the handle be? If I cast it in iron or even have it made in a CNC machine (only if all else fails) then I would be able to weld that to the handle.

 

Otherwise if I made it out of bronze or similar metal how would I attach it?

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This is best done in the shop,,,,you may want to just go for it and get it done or you mmay even wish to take the parts one at a time and figure out how to shape them..then when it all works,,get the material and give it a go. Take pics along the way so we can see ow it is going. And have fun!

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Wow, thanks for posting that video Mat! I kind of want to try my hand at casting now. Looks pretty dangerous though, and they're standing a little too close to the steam for my comfort. Also need to get a sturdy lad for working the bellows! But casting an item of the magnitude that Razzputin is atempting would probably be the easiest/quickest option.

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