juggernaught_666 Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 This is my first post! I have singed up today but have been reading hear for a year and "playing with" steel swords for 4 years, wooden ones for much longer... I have 2 (previously) identical pieces of "spring steel" although most people I have shown (oldies) call it Mild steel... I don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FERRARIVS Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Hi Juggernaught, I make real Gladius recreations so maybe I can help a little- first the bone, boil it- that gets any tissue or fat out and then dry it thoroughly (oven works, but it's not the best smell). You do have to fill the marrow space or it'll rotate around the tang- nobody knows what was used originally, but epoxy putty works wonderfully. You just have to put some at each end. Hilt Materials- real Gladii used bone, ivory and hardwoods. Aluminum was quite unknown, so that's not the best choice. Obviously ivory is out and bone is actually tricky, so I'd suggest hardwoods for the guard and pommel. Shape and burn onto the tang (drill holes nearly the right size, heat the tang and just push the wood on- the tang will burn the hole to the correct size and shape). There's no such things as balance for ancient swords- only when weighted pommels and fullered blades came along was there balance, and that was many centuries later. So that shouldn't be a worry. Maintenance- if the blades are not stainless steel, then oil is really all you need- I live on the Pacific coast where it's incredibly wet and I don't have any rust problems with my low carbon steel blades, so I can't imagine you'd need anything particularly special. Just don't wrap them in anything that'll keep in moisture and most importantly look at them from time to time to watch for any corrosion starting and always address it right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rravan Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 i dont mean to be negitive here but good luck melting down aluminium cans, as you would most likely end up with ash. but if you figure out a way of doing it please let us know. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Juggernaught, Welcome to IFI. Have you looked at the youTube film in this thread? It sure puts a lot of words into a few pictures when it comes to fitting a wooden handle to a tanged blade. How about going into your control panel and set up your location. Maybe there is someone not too far away who can help. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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