Welcome to the pen-ultimate episode on creating a sword for the ChronoBlade game by nWay.
This episode is going to be all about filing and fitting.
But let's look at redoing the guard that I messed up last time.
John West from Celtic Ironworks is giving me hand with bending the guard around a tube
to get a perfect semi-circle.
Scrolling tongs and a hammer help to improve the overall shape.
Instead of using traditional blacksmithing methods to create the slot for tang, we solicit
the help of mill to create the initial slot.
This is clearly a much more controlled operation but I will still have to do a lot of filing
for the final fit - as you will see.
The next step is creating a transition in the guard so that the wider blade can rest
in it.
I frequently check how close I have come by seeing how well the blade slides into it.
After the lower guard is fitting, it's the turn of the lower guard to receive some quality
time with the files.
I am using a throw away hilt from a previous project to check how everything is coming
together.
Here is a little trick for getting a perfect fit.
I am using machinest blue to coat the tang so that I can find the high spots on the upper
guard.
Once both of the guards fit, it's time to fit the pommel.
Originally, I had drilled a small pilot hole that I had drifted.
This resulted in a slot that was not quiet centered.
I am going to fix that now.
Alright, that's close enough and brute force is going to fix the rest.
While the guards are all fit they don't have a tapered profile yet.
Here I am using a flexible rule to draw the shape I desire.
The bandsaw is going to remove most of the excess material and the fine tuning is going
to happen on the belt sander.
I am using a small platform that the guard can rest on while creating a smooth transition.
The next step is to make the wooden core for the hilt.
I am drawing the center and then will drill all the way through.
It turns out that the lathe is an excellent tool for that, too.
Although difficult to see, I am drilling another two holes left and right from the center where
the wider part of the tang is going be.
Now comes a fun part.
I am heating the tang of the sword to such a temperature that it will burn right through
all the wood.
With a lot of smoke, too.
This is a traditional method that was likely used a thousand years ago, too.
As promised earlier, it's back to the belt grinder.
This time to really create the final shape of the guards.
As you can probably tell when making swords, the belt sander is the tool that you will
spend the most time with.
However, as an intermission, let's go back to the hilt and get closer to it's final shape,
too.
I am drawing the lines that I will cut away on the bandsaw.
It's going to make everything signficiantly thinner.
While the bandsaw removes a lot of wood, sand paper will get us the rest of the way.
As with the guard, the hilt needs to fit well, too, and machinest blue is our friend again.
I use the slack belt to gently round the corners of the guards.
The end result is very pleasing.
Since I had forged the tang extra long and the tang has intentionally not be hardened,
I can simply cut away the excess.
Hand sanding the hilt is the last step before accomplishing a major milestone in the project.
Now, everything fits together and the sword is much closer to being finished.
This is a good time to finish up with this episode.
I hope you enjoyed it and if you did, I would appreciate a thumbs up and a subscription
to my channel.
Expect the final episode soon.
See you next time.