Akad

Maybe a Celtic sword that took on Roman influence after the occupation? Looks nice though.

Generally a flamberge is a fairly large two-handed sword with a wavy blade (flamberge would mean flame blade). It can also come in a one-handed form, but I think most people think of the larger variety first.

Hmm... I would forge the hatchet with the hammer on the back first. Make sure the eye is big enough to put the piece of metal you'll use for your handle/prybar through. Assemble it, then forgeweld it shut, making sure it's a good solid weld. (That will probably be the hardest step in the process, you'll probably have to practice just forgewelding simple things first.) Once it's all forge-welded, then go ahead and shape the prybar, cut the little nail puller into there, and rivet the handle on. Like I said, try your hand a forgewelding first. You wouldn't want this to be your first attempt at a forgeweld. If the weld wasn't solid enough or something cracks when you're closing it, it could very well end in injury, possibly very serious. There are lots of good forgewelding threads on this site and others, so look around and research, try something simple, then try to make this tool if you are successful.

I see the Celtic qualities as well as some Roman qualities, but a lot of Iron Age swords looked similar, probably used similarly. Also, cultures spread, even back then, and influenced one another. In any case, it was truly a successful experiment, as it looks awesome!

I thought it was something Europeans introduced to the Indegenous Americans as a sort of gift. And it like, symbolized whether they would fight (the tomahawk) or be friendly (smoke the pipe together). I'm not expert though.

Ooh I like that. Can't really see the handle well in this pic though. Looking forward to seeing some others!

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.

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.

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!

Thanks for all the answers. Though I wouldn't be too worried about inhalation, as I have a fairly well ventilated area and a legit gas mask (It works well, I've used it to avoid fumes from paint and cleaning chemicals) Guess I'll just stick with warm/hot vinegar, though I've toyed with the idea of using something like lemon juice, which (I think) is a bit more acidic than vinegar.

I suppose that's true. Could it be used to etch copper or brass then somehow?

The thought occured to me the other day. It's caustic at least, (not sure if it's acidic?) and fairly cheap/available. Anyone ever try etching with it? Any idea what the active ingredient is, or the Ph? How much should it be diluted? Would coating with whiteout or wax be good enough to etch patterns into steel? Or would it eat the whiteout/wax right off? (I'm sure you guys are familiar with the process of coating steel in whiteout or wax, scratching words, patterns, etc with a small tool and the acid etches where you scratched it off) Would like to find out before trying it, in case it ends up being unsafe. If no one knows on here I guess I'll try to do a bit more research.

Ok, so yesterday I had some down time and drew up the handle and blade, with a cutaway view to show the spring and the locking bar thingy. I cut em out and laid them over and I see how it works. Today I took apart the old one I had and makes tons more sense. I might use the spring from it for the knife I'm gonna start working on. However, this doesn't tell me anything for the future. What sort of material is used for the little rod spring in a lockback knife? I've heard music wire can work as well, and I could probably get some of that pretty easily. Would anyone know about that/recommend it? I mean, if all else fails I could probably keep buying those $1.00 lockbacks and taking them apart for their springs, but that seems a bit wasteful and stupid. Other than the spring, the design for a lockback seems pretty simple to make and effective to keep the blade in place.

Ok I think that helps, thank you. Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to *carefully* disassemble this old lockback I have. It only cost a buck when I bought it, and I quit using it when the clip broke off. For a cheapy knife it locks and stays closed alright so it should be a decent model to go off of.

So I've been thinking about making a folding knife. I decided I liked the lock back design, though a liner lock was a close second. I understand how both stay open when in use, and how you close them as well. My question is this: When you close the knife, does it stay closed via friction alone, or is there a mechanism that helps keep it closed that I'm ignorant about? (Although, technically any such mechanism would do so with friction :P ) I think with a liner lock the spring presses up against the blade to help keep it closed. At least, that's how it appears to be on my current knife, a liner lock. Obviously I don't want to make a blade, assemble the parts, and then have the knife not stay closed properly (The words dangerous and useless both come to mind). If it's just a matter of making the joint tight enough, that'll be fine. (I searched the forums, but most of the tutorials are for heat treating, etc., I didn't see a ton on design of locking mechanisms. But being a busy, tired student it is possible that I overlooked something. If that is the case, post the link, please and thank you!)