Nathan Bell wrote: |
Hi Jeroen, Knowing that you are an authenticity nazi ( ;) that's a good thing) I thought I would chime in.... First, as you probbaly noted above, these things are very small, if made accurately. You stated "sword" so I thought maybe if you are looking at a specific piece Shane or I could send you the length measure for it, so you get proportion and size right on. Construction of the hilt is variable--some are indeed cast-on one piece grips, but this seems to be the minority of pieces. Many are peened, or fitted then brazed. Some hilts are hollow, others are solid cast, some have a void in the middle but not completely hollow. Many have multi-piece hilts, unlike every modern repro I have seen. Is there a particular find or style you are going for? That would help Shane or me tell you or speculate how the hilt should be cast. |
I haven't picked one yet, but I'm looking at some of the examples from the British Museum:
http://1500bc.com/british_museum/07170242.jpg
http://1500bc.com/british_museum/07170243.jpg
http://1500bc.com/british_museum/06270046.JPG
http://1500bc.com/british_museum/07170238.jpg
It's a project I want to take on mainly for learning purposes. I just started forging, so forging the blade will be a good way to get some practice there. And I've never done a lost wax casting, so this is a nice project to get familiar with that as well. I don't intend it to be an exact reproduction of a specific one (I'll be personalizing the hilt f.i.), but it must fit perfectly within the variation of the originals. So at least I want to get the method of construction authentic to the original blades.