My Custom Sword Making

[Flying Crane]

I just created a photo gallery of some of the swords that I have been making. I rebuild Chinese style Jian and Dao. I do not make my own blades yet, but I build hilts and scabbards. Hope you enjoy the pics.

 

[Sin]

Where can I find the photo gallery...and would any of them be for sale?

 

[Flying Crane]

Go to Galleries, to User Galleries, page two. Many of the photos are listed in the New Updates as well.

The one with Birdseye Maple handle is for sale. I have another one for sale, but no photo of that one on the gallery.

PM me if you want to discuss it.

 

[terryl965]

Very nice how long have you been doing the swrod making?
Terry

 

[Sin]

Birdseye?

 

[Flying Crane]

Birdseye?

It is the one with the lighter colored, orangeish grip. There are three pictures of it, one of them has some info attached to it.

 

[Flying Crane]

Very nice how long have you been doing the swrod making?
Terry

For about four years. I got tired of looking for better quality Chinese style swords, so I finally decided to see if I could make them instead. I have been taking metal working classes at the Community College here in San Francisco, to learn the casting and fabrication techniques and that is where I do all the metal work.

Most of the Chinese style swords that are readily available are pretty junky. Even the ones that have a somewhat decent blade usually have a very poorly constructed hilt, so this is what I have focused on. If I can find a decent blade, I will strip the hilt off and redo it. They often have a pretty nasty scabbard as well, so I have begun experimenting with those also.

It's been a lot of fun, actually. A ton of work, but very satisfying.

 

[Walter Wong]

Crane, your remounting work looks pretty decent. From the pics they look good. I maybe interested in having my Chinese blades remounted. But just haven't had the time to invest on my Chinese blades yet. Been mostly focusing on Japanese swords and currently working towards having one remounted with a longer handle.

Will you be offering your remounting services for Chinese blades publicly in the future?

 

[mrhnau]

How well balanced are they?

 

[Walter Wong]

Yes, actually I am curious of that too.

 

[Flying Crane]

Crane, your remounting work looks pretty decent. From the pics they look good. I maybe interested in having my Chinese blades remounted. But just haven't had the time to invest on my Chinese blades yet. Been mostly focusing on Japanese swords and currently working towards having one remounted with a longer handle.

Will you be offering your remounting services for Chinese blades publicly in the future?

I am certainly open to discussing it. I don't have my own workshop at this time so I am limited in my volume of production. Basically I enroll in the class each semester at the Community College and get as much work done as I can during that time period. The teachers are cool about it, and let me do what I want. I definitely need to do a lot of preparation work in between semesters, like the woodworking and the wax models that become the molds for the casting. There are a lot of steps along the way. If I focus entirely on swords, I can probably get about 5 or 6 done in one semester. Scabbards are another matter. I am still experimenting with my techniques for these.

The guards and pommels are cast in one solid piece. Nothing hollow about them. The grip is carved in one piece by hand, with a hole drilled and filed to fit the tang. I secure the blade in the hilt with a series of hex nuts, two stacked at the back of the grip, and hidden under the pommel. Then another hex nut is behind the pommel itself, but the main strength is directly behind the grip. In addition, I epoxy the entire length of the tang under the guard, grip, and pommel for extra security. Basically, you cannot take it apart without destroying it, once it is done.

Since these are solid castings, they definitely increase the weight of the final sword, but the balance is usually much better. Many of the imports have a hollow pommel and guard, or else they are actually made of wood, with a thin sheet of brass covering it. Very cheesy, no strength, and no weight to balance the blade.

I know some of the photos aren't as clean as I would like. I need to start messing around with Photoshop to see if I can do something about that.

If you have something you might want me to work on, send me a PM and we can discuss it.

 

[Flying Crane]

How well balanced are they?

They are much better balanced than they begin with (see my previous post). Much of the balance depends on how hefty the blade is to begin with. If the blade if pretty beefy, the balance will always be a bit toward the point. The problem is, on a beefy blade the pommel would have to be huge and heavy in order to bring the balance point way back by the guard. At some point, this makes the entire weapon just plain too heavy. So, I do the best I can, and recognize that the weight of the blade itself can prevent a "perfect" balance. Personally, I like the balance point about 2 or so inches down from the guard. I think different people have a different idea about what a perfect balance means. Some people like the balance right at the guard. Others, like me, prefer it to be down the blade a bit.

A couple of the earlier ones I have done with beefy blades have heavy pommels, like 10 ounces or more. Since then, I have been scaling them back a bit because for many people these are just too heavy. My heaviest sword is the one with the Silver guard and pommel and Brazilian Rosewood handle, the one without the Scabbard. It weighs about 4 pounds and that is really pushing the limit. I train with it for my Tai Chi forms, but most people cannot. The sword with the silver hilt and the scabbard weighs about 3.5 pounds, and is the highest quality blade I have, made by Angus Trim in Washington State. Nice stuff, he does.
The sword with the lighter, orangish Maple grip weighs about 3.5-3.75 pounds and is very long, like about 34 inch blade. For most people, these swords are very heavy but I like them that way. I think it improves your training. Some of the lighter blade I have worked on have ended up at about 2-2.5 pounds, which works well for many people. My broadsword weighs about 3-3.5 pounds. Gives you hands and arms a hell of a workout.

If a blade is lighter, it is easier to get a good balance without making the pommel too heavy. Some of the lighter ones I have done just about float in your hand.

 

[Walter Wong]

Thank you for the info Crane. I will PM you if I need some remounting work done on my Chinese blades.