Also my first hilt. I adapted the blade and pommel from an MRL "Scottish Backsword". I made everything else. This was a great education, and although it isn't perfect it met my goals. A few quick snaps are posted below. Sorry about the rotten lighting--I was in a rush.

The hilt isn't based on a particular original weapon. Rather, it combines elements of several documented proto-mort hilts. It actually has less in common with my Eljay hanger hilt than with several weapons shown in Mazansky. That's intentional--I didn't want two identical hilt styles in my collection and I didn't want to just parrot Eljay's work. Plus, Eljay made his hilt for a hanger blade and I wanted to match my hilt to a narrow backsword blade.

I'll do a few things differently if there's a "next time," but I'm reasonably pleased with this as a first effort. I could have fixed a few minor problems but ultimately just had to declare it done and move on (I'm racing my son, expected in late August). The last photo below shows the P-M with its English cousins to give a sense not only of scale but also the design differences between the hanger and P-M hilt design.

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Very nice! I wish I had the skill to do such work.

Smashing work, Sean! I hope there is a next time. It looks like what Mazansky has classified as a Type VA, having a side knuckle guard and frontally asymmetrical (?) hilt. Very nice!

JGH

Sean,


You done well ...young grasshopper!!! Very nice indeed............so when do I get my complimentry regular "mortuary".....for test purposes you understand of course :D


Again.....brilliant job....and I guess it was worth the sacrifice of you Scottish back-sword.


Cheers,

Bill

Very nice work, Sean. The folks at Windlas shold be jealous of what you've done with this blade.

You mentioned that you shortened the blade. Any details on that you care to share? (Mostly I'm just curious how much and how it changes the piece; I understand the technical proccess). The blade does not look obviously shortened, so you did a good job on it.

-Grey

I like it, it looks like you did a really nice job. Having the patience and determination to see a project like this through when you have to figure it out bit by bit is an accomplishment in itself. It takes a special kind of stubbornness.
I made an attempt at a mortuary hilt not too long ago, but the material got uncomfortably thin in some areas as I dished and spread it so I scrapped it. I recently got a copy of Mazansky's book and am fascinated to the point of obsession with the proto-mort's, and the "Hilts based on pierced side rings" shown in the last chapter particularly.

My attempt started with 1/8" sheet, but I had to cut it out with the side knuckle-guards aimed forward, paralell to the main knuckle guard, and then try to bend them back to go straight down towards the pommel. It may be salvageable but the steel is pretty thin at the inside of the bend I had to make. I may go back to it some day since there is some time wrapped up in it already.

Gary, I have turned ebony and several other hardwoods on a metal lathe, it works surprisingly well with the rigid and eminently controllable cutting tool. If you have ever turned metal you would be delighted at how deep a cut you can take on hardwood without even slowing the machine down. After trying this, turning steel is like watching paint dry...wake me up when I reach the end of the cut!

I'd like to try turning, maybe for a spatha grip or rondel dagger grip, but the variation in shape from top to bottom on most sword grips requires hand carving. I've tried chisels, Dremel sanding bit, another bit that looks like the head of a morgenstern, block planes and a Sur-Form tool. For detail work such as facets, It's hard to beat sharp chisels and sandpaper. For this grip, with more rounded surfaces, I roughed out the basic shape with a craft knife and chisel, then refined with the Sur-Form. For the spiral, I just wound a string up the grip, marked its line with a pencil and went to work with a craft knife. The trick is to get the spirals just deep enough to accept the binding after the leather is on. I got them too narrow and shallow at first because I neglected to account for the thickness of the leather wrap. Sandpaper is great for details. Here's the grip at approximately the halfway mark. Notice that the top is of round section, the middle is slightly oval and the bottom is very oval. There's still lots of material to remove at this point, so this is significantly thicker than the final grip. You can see the striations left by the coarse cutting of the Sur-Form tool.

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Hey Sean...

Very nice work... Especially considering all the firsts!

Makes me want to try hammering some steel sheet :D

ks

Sean;

Good work, lad! Thanks for posting the photo's of the process and of the finished product! Now you just have to get your production up to one hilt a week like you "promised" Bill G.! :D

Cheers!

Gordon

That's beautiful, congratulations.