Maillemaker Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Evening All! I'm looking for information about how those fancy, swept hilts were made for rapiers. I'm a member of my local SCA group, and while I heartily enjoy fencing, I don't appreciate the cost of ordering parts for my sword online. Even a simple crossguard is close to thirty bucks, and I want to keep as much money as possible. Looking at the modern, arc-welded "replicas" makes me wonder how the originals were produced. Just to be clear, I have neither intent nor desire to make the blade, only the hilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanshin Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Do you also practice full contact with rattan swords? Anyways, if you can post a pic of what you need I may can help you, i have been made full contact steel practice swords for awhile... But mainly for XV century... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry H Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Full contact = Kendo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maillemaker Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=Wk7Pgx7UPiO0OM&tbnid=H9B_tItgwSkrLM:&ved=0CAgQjRwwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.preferredarms.com%2Fweapons%2Frapiers.php&ei=cPyIUdquJI3LqQH564B4&psig=AFQjCNH1-dHdCg2R-GeznXaq9qfYwEeXBg&ust=1368018416640385 Look for the bottom photo. I'm after something like that. As for the SCA, I only fight on the rapier field. I respect the heavy fighters, but having a real steel blade in my hands makes all the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Any of those pieces in the link are made with common metal working skills. drawing,tapering. dishing, scrolling, welding etc. My approach to any thing new to me is to define one part of the whole and develop the skills needed. Meaning when you can draw a long gracefull taper then move to the next step. If you have trouble with any part, lthen stay at that part until it is easy as starting your truck. This is a long ad boring process, one way to avoid this drudgery is to make items that include these steps that you can complete and move on. Example would be making knife blades until they are really nice,,,then move on to simple guards..Concentrate on fit and finish on every part you make. Any flaws on a knife blade are magnified on a sord. If any part of yoiu pice is to be welded than everly day yoiu forge ,,,forge weld something. work to perfection. And as you do these steps it is a big help to me to keep some examples of early work and compare next day or next month to make sure I am improving. At the end of a day in shop a piece may look pretty good. A week later it may not appear as nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanshin Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Full contact = KendoI am sorry Larry but kendo is not the only martial arts with sword with full combat fighting. SCA fighters use (or used, I don't know if they do it still) to fight full contact with full armor and rattan reproduction of XIV-XV century EUROPEAN weapons. It is showed on the book I bought when I started to make armors for my association: tecniques of medieval armors reproduction, by Brian R. Price who is also a member of SCA. When I was in Italy, i performed lots of full contact fightings with XV century STEEL Italian and German swords daggers and pikes, aways and only in full armor. As soon as I can find the links I can show you the videos. Anyways, Unfotunately I never had the chance to make a rapier even if i always wanted to, making this kind of hilts without the help of an electric welder it would be very challenging (for me) and fascinating. Can I ask you to post pics WIP if you ever decide to start one? Thanks Francesco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maillemaker Posted May 8, 2013 Author Share Posted May 8, 2013 If I make my own hilt, I will most likely "cheat" and use electric welding. I've got pretty much the entire summer to come up with a design that I like, so time really isn't an issue. I'll also need to work on my forge welding if I decide to go traditional; I'm poor/decent at best when it comes to fire welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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