Reconstruction Sisak pugio

[Quintilianus]

5) Assembly

I was really looking forward to this. After all a project like this takes quite some time, especially when you have only the weekends to do it.

OK, I had 8 different parts to assemble. Everything comes together using iron rivets. I used 3mm thick nails to make them.
I used a drop of glue to make the bone stick to the grip parts and then I drilled the holes already in the grip parts trough the bone, this has to be done gently.
Not all of the rivets go all the way trough. The two holes in the pommel do and also the ones in the guard, but there is on in the middle of the front grip and two in the back grip which only go past the tang of the blade.
So I first put a mushroomed nail trough the tang in the middle hole and riveted the back grip to the tang using the two holes. Then I put the front grip with the bone over the rivet sticking out in the middle. Then I first riveted the guard and then the pommel.
The pommel and the middle rivet need enamel cups, so I put them on first. The middle rivet needs to be done last and with much care since the end of the rivet rests on bone and the back grip inside the assembled handle.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/21/ ... IM2395.JPG

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/21/ ... IM2396.JPG