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I Forge Iron

Short sword finished (finally)


Cloudspike84

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This is my first project that I started working on in high school as part of a senior project. It was originally a Gladius (the smith who helped train me was also the Latin teacher, so it made sense). That was over 10 years ago, and it has underwent a ton of work since then. The original "gladius style" grip broke, and the tang broke, and I burnt it a little. This is the final edition, as I am ready to set it aside and work on some other things now that I have space for it. It is made from a leaf spring that was hammered into shape (bevels etc.). The handle is burnt on and attached with a nut; I cheated and used a tap and die. The blade is quenched (used salt water) and tempered at 500 degrees. I didn't spend as much time polishing the blade as I could have, but like I said it is pretty rough as it is and I'm ready to move on. That being said, it is still functional; the blade is pretty sharp and might use it to chop some small bushes in the yard later :) I don't have any pictures from the original work, but I have a few from the recent bits. Thanks for looking.

Blade Length 17 1/2 inches

Blade Width 2 3/8 inches

Overal Lenth 23 1/2 inches

Weight approx. 2.2 lbs

 

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Thanks for the feedback! It is a bit heavy; honestly I wish at this point that it had a single edge and would make a decent chopper for camping and it would probably be more suited for that. I considered grinding it down more to bring the weight to a more resonable level but I decided I really wanted to call it "good" for a first attempt and move onto some other projects. I actually think I may have read that book when doing my original research years ago, but I may order a personal copy to keep.

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