Thanks Bryan and Radovan for the pictures and comments.

I have the view from the Philadelphia museum of art, which is the one I printed to size. I also have the excellent shots from carl.koppeschaar @flicker - I am spending hours on his gallery, it's simply amazing.

I've searched all around the web and found no insight on the guard viewed from above or below, but it should not be too different from what I can guess...in any case it looks fine. I will need weight and more details, that are not available on the site. If anyone knows of a book that features this information, I'll take it!

J

Ok the guard recess is 95% done.

In case you are wondering I use a Dremel to do that. Thick disk to cut according to the blade section traced with a sharpie, these disk can also grind sideways to even the inside. Then carbide cutters that are amazingly efficient on mild steel but they send tiny shards of metal all around the place so mask on and blow/wash these off your hands once it's done (otherwise it can get painful as I've experienced).

Fitting the blade all the way in can often be a bit of a bore (remove a bit there, test fit, and there, test fit and so on). This time I stopped so that I have 0.5 mm between the blade shoulder and guard, and I will hammer the guard to place (the fit is very tight).

Below is a view with the windlass pommel that I will use as it is, it's close enough, and the Albion bare blade that I test cleaned here and there. Not sure if you can see, but for a cm in length and some minor corrections around the tip the blade is almost spot on. I'll cut the print once I'm done to trace the blade exact profile on the blade and will correct the profile. I could not have asked for a better blade for this project, thanks Albion!

Once I'll clean up the hilt and carved a grip, I'll have to pause on this project as I could grind the blade flat, but I'm not equipped to enhance and finish the hollow ground here (nor have I ever tried hollow grinding anything which deserves to be mentioned :) ) I'll ask guidance from Owen Bush if I make it to England for the forge in in May.

Oh man, this brings me back, I haven't seen the Sword of Auray in years. It could have been my first sword, but it was discontinued by the time I was ready to take the leap.

Ended up buying a Darksword instead. Ah, what could have been,.