The Armour Archive

I am new to the art of bladesmithing and have been interested in it for many years.A friend and I have planned to preform a mock battle for school and I have entertained an idea about how to make the weapons for this fight. What I was wondering was would it be feasible to create a sword by first creating a mold of the parts and then melting down pop cans for metal? Since this would be a one time use or possibly a practice sword I would like to use a some what cheap metal, and I think I could get experience in the field of sword asembly. As the title says all feed back is welcome. [img]http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/confused.gif[/img]

Well, I don't think you would be happy with the results of a pop can sword. Frankly, the equipment to do what you are suggesting would cost more than making a show sword out of aluminum barstock.

Lots of hardware stores have aluminum flat bar. Get a piece 6' long and 1.5" wide by 1/4" thick. Get a bastard cut mill file. Get a hacksaw. Get a short board for handle material. A marker, a drill, and whatever you want to use for the guard and pommel will fill out your list.

Cut the bar in half. Now you have two blanks. Cut out the shape of the sword. Use the file to smooth up all the edges and to add some very shallow bevels. You are not looking for cutting power here, just the impression of bevels. Repeat on the other piece of metal.

Now, make the guards. There are several ways to do this but all of them would take too long to explain here.

Add wood on both sides of the tang (handle section) and glue it in place. Epoxy works on most materials. Shape the wood with a knife then smooth it with the file. Sand it to a final finish. The pommel goes on last.

This is so grossly simplified that I am not sure it will help, but I am not up for typing a whole essay on it.

I once saw a play with swords that were really kind of neat. They were mild steel, no bevels at all. The guards were flat barstock (also mild) just slotted then welded in place. The pommels were sections of round bar about 3" long welded at the end of the tangs. Wood on the handles. Probably took about 1.5 manhours per sword, with the right equipment. And every so often, two of them hitting would produce a spark!

-Patrick

I suspect that the reason you are not getting any more answers is because your question is really along the lines of "tell me in a couple of paragraphs what it took you 5 years to learn."

For now, if you have never made a knife (or at least put a handle on a commercial blade), you really are trying to jump in at the deep end. You need to develop some skills that can be applied to this craft.

I suggest that you get a book on the subject of knifemaking at your local bookstore. Just look at the books they have available and decide whether you would be willing to do the stuff shown in the pictures. I suggest Tim McCreight's _Custom Knifemaking_, David Boye's _Step By Step Knifemaking_, and Bo Bergman's _Knifemaking_. The last one uses commercial blades and is focused on Scandinavian knives, but all of them have great information. I have seen all three at bookstores.

The point is that specific questions are a lot easier to answer than very general "how do I make a sword" questions.

-Patrick

It maybe wasn't wise to plan this mock battle until you have all the equipment you need. Do you and your friend know how to fight? im sorry if that seems an insulting question but it is an important one please don't take offense. Do you have armour? even doing a display you should wear a helm just incase, if not more thatn that.

Pop cans does not sound like a good idea, I'm no bladesmith my self but did minor blacksmiths work the other week. You can get some mild stell, and shape it with an angle grinder easy enough, as for the hilt and pommel I have no idea.

Xander