[Jean Thibodeau]

[Mark G.]

You're absolutely right Jean. The stock for the pommel thickness was chosen to make sure there was plenty of material to work with.

The next step was to give the pommel a rough shape to have some idea of what I'm dealing with with weight and mass distribution. This is to say that the pommel is not necessarily the exact size or shape it will be when the sword is finished. Offhand, I'm thinking that it will be quite a bit thinner, given it's weight at the moment.

So here were the steps on the shaping:

The sides were ground down to give the pommel it's round shape. Since it may not be the exact size, I made it a round as possible, using the entire thickness of the stock, leaving as much material as I could.

With the base being round, the faces needed to be taken it to give is some roundness as well, again leaving plenty of material to work with.

Here's is where it gets difficult to put across, taking an angular form, and making it round. The only was I can think of to describe it is by carrying the curve. The profile of the pommel has the curve I wanted to bring across to the front. It's a matter of mimicking the curve from the side all of the way to the front. I find it's always best to work to work one corner at a time, rather than an entire side. That could just be me though.

Then, it's marking out the lower portion of the pommel and putting that curve in.

And there you have it, a rough shaped pommel.

[Steve Grisetti]

[Allen Andrews]

This is great! It is so cool to watch this sword develope! Now if I can just convince OlliN to ship the finished sword to Maine....on second thought, with Jean doing one handed curl sets with 80lbs, maybe I'll pass on that idea

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Tim Lison]

This post has been very fun to watch. Watching the pommel on this beast take form is sooooo cool. Thanks to Jean and Mark for sharing this! I hope we get to see the same sort of progress shots during the blade grinding. That should be very cool given the complexity of the grind on this one. Great stuff!

[Mark G.]

So, a little shaping of the guard is in order. It's not as complex of a shape or process as the pommel was, so there isn't a whole lot to go over.

The lines were marked out on the guard to give it a shape similar to that which Jean had given me a drawing of.

Like with the pommel, the point is more about getting some base information about the fitting and how it affects/reacts to the blade and it's characteristics. Now that I have some information about the hilt components, I can start in on shaping the blade.

Wish me luck. I have a feeling tomorrow will feel like a very long day.

Mark

[Hugo Voisine]

" -What is best in life ?

- To crush your ennemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women !"

Guys, a real barbarian sword is forming right before our eyes !

I'm curious to see the grounding of the fullers...

[Jean Thibodeau]

The guard is also looking good. Just giving some feedback that everything is matching my design and expectations.

Mark: Make sure to take a few breaks grinding the blade as there is no point rushing things and then not being able to move your arms for 3 days after as you recover. ( Sore muscles leading to shaky grip leading to wavy bevels. )

In any case look at it as a marathon and not a sprint and things are progressing really fast as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, I'm SO HAPPY that this is my project and will be MY sword. ( And like I said before I'm O.K. with it if someone wants the same design excluding the style of the engraving / inlays. Also if someone wanted to scale it down to 2/3 the size while keeping the aesthetics that would also be an option to think about. Might even come in at a slightly lower price ? )

[Mark G.]

Believe me, I won't be rushing anything. That wouldn't be fair for anybody. I certainly have no interest in risking an injury. There was one over-working injury I had a number of years ago which resulted in not being able to use my arm for about a month. It was a good four or five months before I got full use of the arm back. It was not a fun time for me. If nothing else, the experience taught me to listen to my body more.

[Mark G.]

The grinding yesterday went well. I am sure feeling it today though. so I think I'll treat myself to break today.


First, I would like to introduce you to the grinder. I call it "The Grinder". She's a little dirty, but runs well enough.

WIth the blade marked out, I started in on grinding the distal taper. It's slow going at the moment, but it should gain momentum as the weight comes down a bit.

To give an idea of scale, I'm about 6'3", so this is quite a sizeable blade to maneuver.

[Scott Kowalski]

Mark and Jean, That is turning into a fine looking sword. It is of particular interest to see all that is going into the crafting of this sword. I know it makes me more appreciative of the time and expertise that goes into the creation of an item that is made by hand. Yes machines and tools are used, but a craftman has to control those tools and make them do what he wants. Keep the updates coming.

Scott

[Jean Thibodeau]

Oh, I see a couple of other unfinished swords in the background that look interesting.

So you don't have a special name for " The Grinder " Time for a name the grinder contest.

Interesting that the first thing is doing the distal taper: Sort of makes sense as doing it as the bevels are ground would make the process complicated and it does get rid of a lot of weight ( I would hope ) making control while doing the hollow grinding and fuller a bit easier?

Grinder names:

1) The Abrasive Mistress.
2) Sparky.
3) Steel Eater
4) Betty ( Or any female name you like )

5) Anybody else have suggestions ? Lord of the Rings sounding names maybe: Elvish, Orcish or Hobbity.

[C.L. Miller]

[Mark G.]

Well, grinding a distal taper first is the way that I go about shaping the blades. It is not the only time it gets addressed though. You're right in that putting it in after the bevels, fullers, etc. would make it a little more complicated. The main goal at the moment is getting the weight down, and giving it a basic shape before the fullers and bevels get put in. After that, the blade's characteristics will be more defined and then the process is more about fine tuning everything.

If you feel like trying to find the name to The Grinder, be my guest. I'm sure we can come up with prize for that. It will be difficult to figure out a proper name though. It should be something that is almost fragile and delicate to go along with the control that is necessary in doing complex hollows, but it should also have a bit of power and ferocity, showing that it is more than willing to bite you and take off chunks of skin. That's happened more than a few times.... Do try to stay away from Lord of the Rings names though.

I'm quite excited about the facet pommeled sword in the background. I can't wait to see how that one turns out myself. Yeah, there are a bunch of projects I'm working on at the moment. There is one saber blade that I'm working on finishing up that is going to be fantastic. I am actually only making a different blade for pre-existing hilt and doing the assembly, but it should be quite a piece when it's all done.

Mark

[Steve Grisetti]

[Mark G.]

I guess it's a yes and no type of answer. For this kind of production, taking several projects through the same stages doesn't save all that much time or make things run smoother, as compared to working on one piece and doing something else on another. Each piece requires as much time and attention as the next. It's more of a matter of how much of one process I can put my body through in a given day. It's usually a good idea to have pieces in various stages that require different types of work. It gives certain parts of your body rest as you work on other things.

Grinding is physically exhaustive, but it usually isn't that bad. I can go for days on end doing it. This project is somewhat of an exception at the moment. It's just a matter of time though. I'll get used to it.

Mark

[Matthew Grzybowski]

And the winner for the OlliN Weight Contest is...

Allen Andrews with the guess of 8 lbs 7oz. Congratulations Allen! The actual weight of the profiled steel blade was 10 lbs even!!! Easy the biggest blade we've worked. Because we had such a great response to the contest and we did have someone come really close to guessing the weight (but was over the actual amount) we will be giving a way a runner up prize to Kirk Spencer for his guess of 10 lbs 6oz. We'll be contacting the winners shortly about their prizes.

Thanks very much for all those that participated!

Best,

Matt

[Nathan Robinson]

I'm shocked by that weight! I guess this means you'll be reducing it by 60% or more with final grinding, fullers, etc? Wow!! That's pretty awesome.

[Jean Thibodeau]