Wooden Sword
This entry is going to be about my new wooden sword. I got it by having a friend of mine buy some wood (ash for the blade and beech for the guard and the pommel at first) and then i took that friend and the wood to the workplace of my aunt's partner. So there he made the thing (because we couldn't touch the equipment except for the "simple tools"). There was enough wood for 3 swords, my friend took 2 of them so i got to choose one and i didn't have to pay him back for the wood.
So during the first week that i had the sword i oiled it with linseed oil, and took it to training. But during the second training the pommel broke off :O which was a major bummer because the pin that was an extension of the wood of the blade was so thick that i didn't expect it to break so quickly.. i did expect it to break at that point if it ever did though so yeah.
Now i'll have to repair the thing, and i bought this huge bolt which i will drive through the pommel and then through the grip, but i need a column drilling machine to do the job properly, as the bolt has to go in so deep that i am sure i won't be able to do it by hand.
Anyway, here are the pics.
Waster
A full view of my wooden sword, also known as a "waster" which is an English word apparently.
Grip
A good view of the grip of the sword. As you can clearly see, the pommel is quite long, which i did so the weapon would be balanced in a nicer way. The shape of the pommel isn't exactly medieval though.
Guard
A good view of the guard and the ricasso. The guard is the horizontal bit which protects your fingers and allows you to do some fancy tricks when disarming others. The ricasso is the blunt bit above the guard where you put your finger in some styles of swordfighting.
Another view of the grip.
Nothing much to say here. The whole thing below the blade is known as the hilt.
Fancy pic
A view from below, you can see the fuller extending almost to the top.
(A fuller is that thing in the middle of the blade which according to legend was used to let the blood flow off of it more easily. That is completely bogus of course, it was used to decrease the weight of the weapon, in the case of my wooden sword it's for authenticity.)
Pommel
This is a close up of the unorthodox pommel that has been fitted to my sword. This is the piece that broke off, probably because of the bad transition from the grip into the wooden pin that goes into the pommel. It broke right off at that point.
Flexibility
Ash is a very flexible type of wood, and after oiling with linseed oil it becomes even more flexible.
Here i'm bending it without actually putting a lot of effort in it. I think i could've probably bended it twice as far without breaking the wood.
So during the first week that i had the sword i oiled it with linseed oil, and took it to training. But during the second training the pommel broke off :O which was a major bummer because the pin that was an extension of the wood of the blade was so thick that i didn't expect it to break so quickly.. i did expect it to break at that point if it ever did though so yeah.
Now i'll have to repair the thing, and i bought this huge bolt which i will drive through the pommel and then through the grip, but i need a column drilling machine to do the job properly, as the bolt has to go in so deep that i am sure i won't be able to do it by hand.
Anyway, here are the pics.
Waster
A full view of my wooden sword, also known as a "waster" which is an English word apparently.
Grip
A good view of the grip of the sword. As you can clearly see, the pommel is quite long, which i did so the weapon would be balanced in a nicer way. The shape of the pommel isn't exactly medieval though.
Guard
A good view of the guard and the ricasso. The guard is the horizontal bit which protects your fingers and allows you to do some fancy tricks when disarming others. The ricasso is the blunt bit above the guard where you put your finger in some styles of swordfighting.
Another view of the grip.
Nothing much to say here. The whole thing below the blade is known as the hilt.
Fancy pic
A view from below, you can see the fuller extending almost to the top.
(A fuller is that thing in the middle of the blade which according to legend was used to let the blood flow off of it more easily. That is completely bogus of course, it was used to decrease the weight of the weapon, in the case of my wooden sword it's for authenticity.)
Pommel
This is a close up of the unorthodox pommel that has been fitted to my sword. This is the piece that broke off, probably because of the bad transition from the grip into the wooden pin that goes into the pommel. It broke right off at that point.
Flexibility
Ash is a very flexible type of wood, and after oiling with linseed oil it becomes even more flexible.
Here i'm bending it without actually putting a lot of effort in it. I think i could've probably bended it twice as far without breaking the wood.