I am new, so I present myself

[Damian Gallo]

Hello, how are you?

I am Damián Gallo and I am from Argentina. I always find very intresting information in this page and I would like to congratulate every one of you that has made this site the way it is.

I would like to show you some of my creation (for my collection), just to receive your opinion. I dont now if this is the right place to do it, so if I am wrong I apologyse.


This is a medieval sword, with the folowing characteristics:
Weigth: 1260 Gr.
Mass center: 100 mm from guard.
Width: 50 mm.
Thicknes at guard: 6.3 mm.

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7308/dscn3219p.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4218/dscn3220w.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9531/dscn3221.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3137/dscn3222.jpg

One of the issues that causes me the mayor problems is the ideal thicness for the blade, Because I dont understand how Albion make their swords so little weigth (excuse my english). I have reached that the only way is to reduce the thickness or to make longer fullers. Can you clarify me this question? There is some place where I could find The thickness of Blades?

This other is my viking sword:
Weigth: 1170 Gr.
Mass center: 110 mm from guard.
Width: 50 mm.
Thicknes at guard: 5 mm.


http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9578/dscn3223.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9421/dscn3224s.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8088/dscn3225y.jpg

The pommel has been riveted in both swords and the guard has been put in place by hammer (with care).

Thank you very much,

Damián

[Damian Gallo]

Sorry, I forgot some important details:

The hardness is 50 to 52 HRC on both and they were made from SAE 5160 Spring steel, quench in oil and temper.

Thanks,

Damián

[David Kite]

Hello Damian,

And welcome! If you haven't done so already, another good place to showcase your work would be myArmoury. http://www.myarmoury.com. Their forum is here http://myarmoury.com/talk which has a sub-forum just for makers and manufacturers.

David Kite
ARMA in IN

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

Damian,

Greetings! and wow!

Showcasing here is fine, I think we all love looking at beautiful work.

I wanted to ask you about the techniques that you used to make these. Did you do stock removal or forging? how did you heat treat (meaning the heating agent and all that)

Great stuff, thanks for showing!

-Jeremiah (SA)

[Damian Gallo]

Hello every one!

Jeremiah, how are you?

I quench this swords in oil, after Them reachs a temperature of about 850 °C and Was exposed to that temperature for about 15 minutes. I then submerg it with the blade penetrating vertical to the oil surface. After that I temper to the desired hardness. I is a total manual process, so it has diferents degres of succes.

I make the blade by stock removal with a grinding manual machine (I don´t remember the word in english) and other things to make the fullers.

The length of the Viking´s blade is 82 cm, and the blade of the medieval swords is 82 cm length to.
The tickness of the blade goes from 5 mm to 2 mm in the viking and from 6,3 mm to 2mm in the medieval.

If you have another question please tell me.

By,

Damián

[Lance Chan]

I think you did good work on both swords! Are you doing this professionally?

About the weight, with proper distal taper, a thin thickness can stay stiff enough for use or a thick blade can stay light enough to be agile. It's not just the base thickness at the guard that matters. I think you did it quite well.

For your reference, my Brescia Spadona is 5mm at guard with a complex distal taper to 2mm at the tip.

[Damian Gallo]

Hello Lance, nice to meet you.

As I have explained, the information about the distal taper of diferent swords is what I would like to find. Is there any problem if I ask you for aditional measures in your brescia spadona´s blade? Just 2 or 3 more points in the middle of the blade. I always was intrested in making a sword like the brescia spadona.

I am not doing this professionally, it is my hobby. I am a mechanical engineer and I work in a chemical plant.

Thank you very much.

Damián Gallo.

[Lance Chan]

I'll be glad to help. Just tell me where along the blade do you want the thickness.

Hello Lance, nice to meet you.

As I have explained, the information about the distal taper of diferent swords is what I would like to find. Is there any problem if I ask you for aditional measures in your brescia spadona´s blade? Just 2 or 3 more points in the middle of the blade. I always was intrested in making a sword like the brescia spadona.

I am not doing this professionally, it is my hobby. I am a mechanical engineer and I work in a chemical plant.

Thank you very much.

Damián Gallo.

[CalebChow]

Hey Damian, that sword looks really nice!

I think an important question is also the nature of the tang of the sword and how much it weighs, as it can affect balance and other factors too.

[Mike Sheffield]

Nice swords. I'm happy to meet another blademaker here. I love 5160 for my Western style blades. It is very durable. What kind of oil do you use? Do you have any pictures of your heat treating setup?

[Damian Gallo]

Hello, how are you?

Lance, I tank you very much for your help. I would need the measures of thickness in direrent parts of the blade, It would be good to measure it starting from the guard to the point with a measure at every 150 mm or 200 mm. it is suficient for me to follow the shape. The only thing is if the blade have a complicated distal taper to measure and to locate in the blade the maximun thickness and the minimun.
Thank you very much again.

Calebchow, I have considered the tang, and I continued the fuller in the medieval sword and I made the grip with a total weigth of 50 gr. You are right, it is factor that influences the sword balance.-

Mike, I have to tell you that I am in the begining of making swords with certain quality. But I also have to tell you that my equipment is very rudimentary (I will post you photos) and It will be replace as soon I decide the best replacement. I use used oil from cars because it is quite expensive the heat treating oil. I am tinking in a Salt bath for both quenching and heating to austenize the steel; but it will take some time. Do you have some of your work in a place where I could see it?

Bye,

Damián

[Mike Sheffield]

Your work is far better than mine I assure you. My set up is really basic also. I have a gas forge I built myself and a charcoal I built myself as well. I like to forge then grind to "true up" my shape. Here is a few pics of the charcoal forge. http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hpim0630dg9.jpg http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hpim0628pm3.jpg You can see the seax I'm working on just to the right. You'll have to forgive the mess. I had just moved into this house when this picture was made. I use a grizzly knifemakers grinder. I use peanut oil for my quench. So as you can see my setup is pretty "bare bones" as you can see. Right now I'm working on what to do with two pattern welded billets I have. http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=005sa7.jpg

[Lance Chan]

from base to 10.8cm of length: 5mm
To the end of fuller 4.4mm
to half of the blade 4mm
to 3/4 of the blade 3.2mm
tip 2mm

[Damian Gallo]

Greetings! ,

Thank you Lance for the information, It will be very usefull. I didn´t imagine that such a sword, with a blade of almost 90 cm, were 5 mm at the base of the blade. I have read the reviews in My armoury so I have decided to make one like that, but I will put my touch. The information you have given to me will help very much my work because It is dificult to find the distal taper of the blades and thickness measures to.
how stiff is the sword when you handle it? I would like to have your impresions.

Mike, I have made almost 40 knives and 15 swods (with 4 Katanas with diferential hardening to). So is a good number but The proffesionals has made almost 300 swords, and some more than 500 swords, so the only ting is to enjoy what you are doing (I do that very much). The knowlege will come with the experience and the investigation. As soon as I have the photos of my equipment I will post them. I Have a gas oven that I use only for the austenization of the blade and quenching. I made the shape by stock removal. Albion swords made their sword by that metod to (combined with a far better "martempering" heat treating metod).

Bye,

Damián

[Lance Chan]

The blade always stays straight with every quick directional changes as long as there wasn't any external lateral forces exerted on the flat of the blade. However, if the opponent pushes against my flat, the blade would flex quite an amount compare to my other sturdier swords.

Greetings! ,

Thank you Lance for the information, It will be very usefull. I didn´t imagine that such a sword, with a blade of almost 90 cm, were 5 mm at the base of the blade. I have read the reviews in My armoury so I have decided to make one like that, but I will put my touch. The information you have given to me will help very much my work because It is dificult to find the distal taper of the blades and thickness measures to.
how stiff is the sword when you handle it? I would like to have your impresions.

Mike, I have made almost 40 knives and 15 swods (with 4 Katanas with diferential hardening to). So is a good number but The proffesionals has made almost 300 swords, and some more than 500 swords, so the only ting is to enjoy what you are doing (I do that very much). The knowlege will come with the experience and the investigation. As soon as I have the photos of my equipment I will post them. I Have a gas oven that I use only for the austenization of the blade and quenching. I made the shape by stock removal. Albion swords made their sword by that metod to (combined with a far better "martempering" heat treating metod).

Bye,

Damián