Perfect rattan handle

[Thomas MacFinn]

While I have been thinking about non-round crossguard shapes for a while ...

May 2011:


It is this hilt that really got me going full steam on this:



Looks good, right? Now imagine trying to fit the waster on the post above into it.

100_4833.jpg (24.65 KiB) Viewed 98 times

I couldn't bear to try, and sold the hilt without a blade and with warnings to the buyer.

[Murdock]

1 ish.....my swords die in about 2-4 weeks so i don't spend as much time shaping them as i did. Last one i really liked did 1 practice...crown...then 2 practices (which it was not my primary thing that practice) then broke in a bear pit tourney at lilies.

Now it's twin is dying and even my Falchion...2 inch thick skin on rattan affectionatley named "Biaches better behave" is getting a bad mushy spot. Rattan hates me. It just breaks all the time.

Soon as i have one i like it leaves me.

[Mykaru]

Rattan hates me. It just breaks all the time.

Nah, you're just too nice. Hit folks on their mushy parts more. The rattan lasts longer.

[Christophe de Frisselle]

1. Though I haven't had a sword in awhile.

[Ewen MacSuibhne]

I prefer #2. With my poor shaping skills it ends up being closer to a 3 most times.

[Tom B.]

While there isn't one "best" shape, I do think the SCA has developed certain norms, partially as a result of our equipment and partially because we copy the bad habits of our teachers along with the good.

The first sword grip most SCA people experience is usually a 1.25" diameter round stick inside a 8"-9" tall one-size basket hilt. The first modification most of them have made to their swords was to shave the sides of the grip down by adding two flats, 1" apart. For some, the second modification is shaving a foot or more of a four to six foot long stick down even farther so that it will fit through the (sometimes tiny) hole on a crossguard. If that hole is 3/4 to 7/8 inch diameter, it is no wonder that the rattan snaps.

Imagine instead sending a plastic piece to a blacksmith and saying "I want you to make a crossguard that will fit on this" ...





The hole on the crossguard will automatically be big enough. Once you carved the rattan to fit through the crossguard it would need minimal additional carving (if any at all) to fit your hand. Since it isn't round it will be less likely to twist on the blade. It may even have a slope on the blade side of the crossguard so that the waster inside it doesn't need to be cut at a sharp 90" angle to seat the guard all the way against the blade.

My first thought when I first conceived of this was an oval handle (#1). Two people made me prototypes on 3D printers: one liked it and one said it was too sharp in his palm. This thread and the prototypes available for free download on Shapeways.com that followed are my second draft.

Nissan Maxima mailed me a plastic type 15 waster model with the "mk 1" handle. As soon as I handled it, I mailed it on to Stefhan. If somebody asked him to, he would have few problems making crossguards and pommels to fit it (or a crossguard to fit it and a smaller pommel for Insane Irish). He could make a casting of the model and send it on to somebody else or start an email conversation about the hilt with me or somebody overseas that printed up their own copy from the file.

I plan on sending him a #2 handle, not because I think that is the best, but because it is largest: I can shave any handles that fit through a #2 crossguard down to a #1 or #3.

I generally just modify the Windrose aluminum cross guards with a die grinder and file. It is a lot of work and easy to mess up an expensive cross guard but it keeps you from breaking the sword due to a sharp shoulder in the rattan. It is difficult to get an exact fit so after assembly I just fill the small gaps between the rattan and the cross guard with a 2 part epoxy, using a syringe. When the rattan dies it is not too hard to drill out the rattan and chip out the epoxy. I have been meaning to ask Johannes if it would be possible to buy the pommels and cross guards without the holes drilled. This would make it easier to make the correct holes.

Tom