Historic fit and finish

[J.Arthur Loose]

Originally Posted by Jeff Pringle

Ut-oh, guilty as charged - at least as far as short fullers go - a fuller that stops short or a ricasso on a 'viking' sword is just sooo wrong looking, if you've taken a look at some artifacts.
Well, a fuller that fades out to the hilt probably wouldn't bug me, but the "I'm ground right in" beltsander termination is painful to look at.
[edit - the above, of course, on blades that claim to be 'viking'; on modern blades, or blades that are viking-influenced modern, it's not painful ]

It's not just bad aesthetics, these are functional issues on sword-length pieces; errantly arrived at by comparing modern established knife construction "rules," to swords.

[Drunkenduck]

Jamie, I just visited your site and you're a man after my own heart. I was really impresses that you make your short blade knives with enough handle to control them. I also found your site to be such a wealth of information that I bookmarked it.

Doug Lester

[Jeff Pringle]

It's not just bad aesthetics, these are functional issues on sword-length pieces; errantly arrived at by comparing modern established knife construction "rules," to swords.

Agreed, I guess the aesthetics only seem painful; but when the sword does not function correctly, due to it being a scaled-up contemporary knife, that could have some genuine pain potential!

[jph]

Hello all..

ROFL..ROFLMAOPIMP...I have heard all those same "complaints" about the "grind lines" on a PW blade and more... In fact I hand more than a few times folks say that I couldn't of hand forged what I make as there are no hammer marks..sheesh....So I hammer out some of my "fugly" knifes out of a RR spike and they are "happy"..Some folks...I tell ya.

On fullers...some fullers start at the ricasso, like in a rapier, others I start under the guard as in a D.A. sword... some, say like on a multi fullered seax I run all the way off the back end and under the guard as well. All depends upon what I feel like doing, then ther's the "weird stuff" that I hammer out cause I get bored with the same stuff over and over. Recurved and fullered blades, "T" back and other stuff that hardly anyone is doing nowadays.

Right now I am still puttering about with my "bovine ivory" and getting the dying and treatment down on that stuff. I am having a ball playing with it and now I can make it looks just like fossilized ivory. So much so that I can actually fool folks. Now I have a source that has the same appearances, more availability and well, isn't going to coat me an arm and a leg to hilt a sword..And if I make a mistake, I am out what ?? 75 cents?? NOT a couple hundred $$$...

Yeah I have been doing this stuff for a while now and I have heard pretty much everything although every now and then something "new" does pop up...

JPH

[Jeff Pringle]

So back in the day, they were making functional tools for an educated consumer who was concerned about function first; measuring devices, squares and industrial part replication were yet to arrive on the scene and squelch individuality in the way the invention of dictionaries made 'correct' spellinge uniform...is that the story?
Maybe the rise of 'Western martial arts' will take care of the first part, eventually, then if someone wants a piece with medaeval spirit all we'll have to do is throw away our digital calipers and graph paper....

[J.Arthur Loose]

I have always been amused that some collectors get out the calipers & loupes. If it is supposed to be a symmetrical design, then looking symmetrical is good enough; and using calipers to see how many nths of an inch it is off merely demonstrates that the measurer really wants a machined knife.

I understand that the ABS gets out the calipers for their judging, which simply tells me that I should forge out my blades and then visit a machine shop. After all, so long as I press the buttons then it's "...the work of the applicant alone," right? If you can't tell bad fit or proportions by the naked eye then it isn't an issue, especially considering how refined most bladesmiths' eyes are in this regard.

I once made a bowie with a piece of Sambar stag with such a beautiful surface that I didn't want to shave it down to some arbitrary concept of handle symmetry. Instead I allowed the guard to mirror the asymmetry of the handle. Some idjit at a show told me that it was "off center," and therefore not well-made. I pointed him to the factory knives.

That being said, I think there are some excellent examples of Dark Ages metalwork demonstrating obvious attention to precision. Handmade doesn't mean haphazard.

[Jon Christensen]

Jon, I'm not a judge but I've never heard anyone mention that they use calipers in the judging room. This is probably just a rumor started to put some fear into someone. Submitting your knives in Atlanta is stressful and they do like to play mindgames with the applicants.

Great thread guys!

Jon