[Jean Thibodeau]

A good direction to go with the Topic might be more details about what you are learning about what works and what you have to be careful about to not ruin a piece. No trade secrets involved here as I don't think one person in a thousand could just walk into your workshop and duplicate what you have been able to do so far.

You can take established sword bevels on these overweight swords and thin down the swords without changing the position and crispness of the bevel successfully: This is what I assume from your posts. To a degree what you are changing is based on the established bevels and if you are changing things you are doing it progressively and well.

Oh, at the very least you are not making the bevels worse i.e. wavy, badly centered or adding any flaws. But probably you are making the sword bevel much crisper and the finish near perfect in flatness and uniformity ? One thing to consider is what the final finish should be ? Get it to mirror finish level and leave it there or chose to give it a more period accurate brushed satin finish in the lengthways direction of the blade. ( I think Albion does it this way ).

The next major steps are making the initial bevel on bar stock flat ground and them learning to do hollow grinds and fullers as the next big step up in difficulty. ( And making your own swords. )

[Bob Burns]

I changed my mind in regard to being finished with the grinding on this Type 12 sword from the new and small sword company in India, for which I don't know the name of it yet.
I decided last night to grind this sword some more, as it was still too stiff for my liking and took it to the bench sander this past evening when I got home from work since I am off work today.
I wound up grinding it quite a bit more with the 120 grit and while the fuller that they put into the sword was too shallow and I give them a "D" for keeping it straight. In other words the fuller is a tad on the wavy side and not nearly shallow enough, so there was only so much I could do with it, as I do not as of "yet" (being the operative word here) have the means to grind a fuller.
Otherwise, in so far as being done with the grinding aspect, it looks real nice, now it's time for some flat filing and then to the sanding and finishing. I am headed to Kult of Athena on Thursday the 14th to show it to Ryan, see if he has another sword for me to do yet and to check out a sword for one of the myArmoury members which I don't mind doing at all!
The sword is significantly lighter, it has a much better profile to the blade than it did when I got it, that is for sure!
Maybe sometime later I will grind the fuller in deeper, after I find out what I need to acquire to grind fullers with, I don't like the job they did on the fuller one bit !

Once again, I very much encourage and invite "Anyone" to contact Ryan at Kult of Athena for his independant assessment on what he thinks of my grinding, filing, sanding and finishing work.

Most Sincerely!

Bob

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, I got in touch with Ryan and here is a partial copy post of what he said:

[Bob Burns]

WOW Hi Jean, I hardly know what to say in gratitude to both you and Ryan, I am very moved by your post and Ryan's
good words on my behalf!
Ryan would be happy that you posted his powerful statement in my behalf, for which I am truly humbled.

If things were to pan out, soon people would learn that I am very particular that what I do for them has got to be correct and must look impressive, otherwise it's just not good enough

I have finally completed the grinding on this unknown company's Viking sword and there was only so much I could do with their "slop" of a fuller! Also, I do not think they did a good job in the tempers, the sword is still too stiff, but it's supposed to be a sword and not a spatula, so I cannot continue grinding it, though I did not at all grind it too thin, still
plenty enough of stock on the blade, I am just not going to compromise the resiliance of the blade.
However, this is one of the main priorities of Ryan's request for grinding this over weight sword into a sword of an appropriate weight and thickness to see what the blade would be like after my completion of reworking it.
So as to decide whether or not he wants to do any business with them.

One Very Huge "Thank You" for graciousness and kindess of your's and Ryans words towards me!

Bob

[Gary A. Chelette]

Wow, A new industry is born!
Good luck on this endevor!

[Dan Dickinson]

Bob, would you be able to post pics of the new sword?
It sounds from your description almost exactly like a sword I re-ground not too long ago.
Thanks,
Dan

[Bob Burns]

I consider myself to be extraordinarily lucky that grinding and reworking an existing sword in need of correction of mass distribution just seems to come to me with very little effort, on both of the blades that I ground "so far" I never found myself in a situation where I was having to correct mistakes. I don't know why this is so, I can honestly say that I am rather surprised that's for sure
From what I can see at this point, starting from a blank billet of steel and grinding a flat diamond cross section would be rather complicated, perhaps making a template to keep the billet exactly positioned so that the ridge of the blade is perfectly straight down the middle, thereby reducing the chance of human error. I guess that would mean a template for each and every different sword that is ground. Kind of like the same principle of making a template to run a piece of wood through a table saw to get the exact cut each and every time, this is a technique in cabinet making that comes into play every now and then. Such as doing production runs of making multiples of the same item, so that each and every piece when it is built is of the exact same dimensions as one from another.
So I would think, Say I was making sword that I did blueprints on as a production sword, maybe call the sword
"The Madman" ! The objective being to make 5 models of the same sword, I was wondering, would I use templates and jigs to hold the billet of steel and a certain angle and depth so that I get the same exact dimentions on each and every of the 5 blades?
I've got Lot's to learn before I start contemplating the idea of grinding my own swords from a billet of steel, correcting or reworking an existing sword is one thing, but starting from a blank billet is quite another!
Maybe I need to take a bit of a vacation and go up to Minneapolis and hang around Arms & Armor, where I can bug and bend the ears of Chris Poor and Craig Johnson for a few days?
Speaking of Arms & Armor, Gayle received her German Rapier with the custom hilt today, and WOW does she ever love it! It's hers and only hers, is what I told her, it is not part of my collection, it is exclusively hers as a gift from me.
She said that to her, my giving her this rapier and the matching parrying dagger was like getting a diamond ring!
Then she said, "I don't need any more diamonds, you've bought me enough, and this rapier Is Like a Diamond to Me"!
I guess to a certain extent, she has an appreciation of swords just like we do, only it's no where as intense for her, since she is completely content with this one rapier, but that it is Very Special to her!
Gayle is very happy for me that this new found ability of mine is something that I am able to do very well and the amount of joy that it brings me! I've been teaching myself some tricks so to speak in grinding, only after they have been thought out that is, I would not just blindly go and try something without theorizing about it first.
This second sword, what I started with was nowhere near the quality of a Del Tin, rather it was a "Sad excuse of a sword" at best! It's quite a bit lighter in weight than what this clunker was originally, seriously, it was like a long flat war club!
I am planning on taking it with me to Kult of Athena in the morning or early afternoon and show Ryan where I am at with it right now and how it behaves as compared to when he gave it to me last week to rework.
By the way, Ryan is a "Class Act" of a man, they don't come any more decent than Ryan (owner) of Kult of Athena!
He loves what he does, he's a sword buff who found his niche in the sword world!

I am going to start working on that broken Grosse Messer by Cold Steel, the tang broke about an inch and a half inside the crossguard, so I am going to make a one hander out of it. I suppose, learning how to build and fixate the hilt is going to be an interesting dilemma !

Thanks Again Very Much Gary and Dan! And everyone else too, who's taken the time to read this thread.

Bob

[Bob Burns]

This past night I finished the Type XII Viking Sword made by some unknown new sword company in India for which I do not know the name of and will produce photos ASAP. The fuller they did was amateur, too shallow, as I got down in removing stock the fuller proved to be wavy, more shallow in some areas than others, and I did remove a Lot of stock from this blade. Oh yeah, I was able to field strip it, the entire hilt assembly is held together by a pommel nut, screw on compression, but the entire hilt is solid bronze.
The fuller used to end at 5 7/8 from the tip, now it ends 8 inches from the tip and the distal section beyond the fuller used to be a full diamond cross section, it is now a softly rounded convex cross section to help give this blade some kind of life.
What was an incredibly thick sword with a thick dull edge, which was about 3/32 at the edge, is now nearly razor sharp!

I am taking this sword to Kult of Athena on Saturday and once again I not only invite, I encourage anyone who wants to contact Ryan at KoA for his independent evaluation and I have asked him to Please be Absolutely Honest with his assessment of my work, whether good or not so good, to please not hold back any criticism to inquiries.

Again, his email is info@kultofathena.com

Business Phone 1-847-531-8664 To reach Ryan Whittlinger Owner of Kult of Athena

Well, I am now ready for a third sword, or maybe I will start in on that remnant of the Cold Steel Grosse Messer!

Most Sincerely!

Bob