Of course. At your convenience please! Thanks for your time and info.
I’ll get started, I’m not sure how much detail you want, so feel free to ask questions.
I was learning taiji, and we were working on the sword. I bought an import from China, fairly light weight and springy, but not pure junk, it wasn’t one of those sheet metal Wushu pieces that feel like they will shake apart. As I saw what people were using, I began to realize that the swords readily available were mostly junk. The hilts fit poorly, felt like they were going to fall apart, and often the guard and pommel were a wood core with a thin sheet of brass over the top of it. There was no strength or durability, and no weight to balance against the blade.
So I decided maybe I could rebuild them, as long as I had a blade that was acceptable. Some of the Chinese stuff was better than others, although it is hard to say for sure what the quality of any of it is given that we dont know what kind of steel it is nor how well their heat treating processes are. But the more robust blades, I was willing to work with.
I also purchased some blades from a maker of European type swords, and built some hilts for those. I knew that maker’s reputation and the type of steel he uses, so those that I bought from him I am confident are quality blades.
I enrolled in a class at my local community college, in the art department, to learn metal working in bronze and silver, and the lost wax casting method. Most people took the class to make jewelry, I did it to rebuild swords. I took the course over several semesters and developed my technique and design, and was able to rebuild several swords in that way. Eventually I was not able to take more classes, so I bought some casting equipment that I can use in my garage. I cast the guard and pommel in solid bronze, and do scabbard fittings in bronze as well. I did a couple of hilts in silver, just for fun.
I carved grips from hardwood, maple has been my favorite. Ive carved out scabbards as well. At first I would shape these with a hand planer, and carve out the blade trench in the scabbard with a chisel. Eventually I started using a belt sander to shape the pieces, and a router to do most of the blade channel in the scabbard, but there is still chisel work involved.
I’ve done a bunch of swords, sold a bunch to people in my training group, they are much superior to most of the junk that was being imported from China.
More recently I started making staffs and spear shafts in hickory, which I am finding I like better than the Chinese waxwood. That’s just a personal preference. I’ve made tomahawk handles as well in hickory, I shape them on the belt sander, a lot of hand sanding goes into the finish, and then finally finish with linseed oil and teak oil. I’ve also made a couple of hiking staffs in the same manner.
I don’t have any knowledge in working the steel, so I’ve not made any blades. Hilts and scabbards and staffs and tomahawk handles are what I can do.
And I developed a small line of silver animal pendants that I sell on Etsy.com, under the seller name flyingcranedesigns.
