3rd - 4th Century stone hilted Spatha

[brennivs - tony drake]

Musivarius I used multipurpose drill bits to drill the holes, I also have cobalt bits (will post pics). I made wood cradels for the vice to dampen any vibration , I started with a small drill first then slowly increased to the final size Now to attach it to the tang I filled the hole with wood, then cut out the hole to fit the tang for the pommel. The gaurd I used bone and glue to fill the gap. Here is a photo of a Onyx stone pommel I drilled which turned out great.

Mdf I hope to get my hands on a piece of rock crystal, If I do another stone pommel I might do a post on it as a How Too Otherwise it has went to a good home. If you have any questions please ask
Regards Brennivs

[Musivarius]

Thanks for the info, that last one looks very nice. The pommel looks much better than the stone one.

[jvrjenivs]

Wow, that's a very nice scabbard. Well done!

[Caballo]

Which gives me more ideas for Stilicho's fourth century sword.


Btw, I was looking at the medieval swords in the Wallace collection in London today, and was struck by a number of stone pommels.

[Kai]

This looks very nice!

A question, if you don't mind: is the stone hilt heavier than bone or wooden hilts and does the increased weight (if there is any) affect the handling? I have little idea about such 'practical' problems, so I am wondering.

[brennivs - tony drake]

Musivarius thanks, I will post pics of bits when I get up to workshop been away weekend
Caballo I also have come acroos a lot of pommels from that period, but who on some dusty shelves in storage stons with holes in may lurk and not Identified or classed as loom weights?
Kai I did not weigh the hilt so I will see if I can get it back and weigh And see if I can compere it to a wooden one. Looking at the pommels though they tend to be smaller than wood examples so the weight is partly ballanced out.


It looks like the stones in the middle of the photo could be for pommels and you can compare them to the hilts in photo for size. As for handling it feels no different to a wood/bone pommel. Thanks for the feed back
Regards Brennivs

[Augustus Janus]

I know this is an old post but this sword is a very interesting piece of work. Nicely done Tony

Jim

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Yes it is! I wonder how I missed it, or if i just forgot about it!

[brennivs - tony drake]

Sorry for the late reply, not been on the computer. Many thanks Jim and Byron :woot: I nave a few others up my sleeve but I am stuck doing other work :-( hope to finish another sword next year :lol:
Regards Brennivs :woot: