The suspension rings I made work very well. I would not recommend using brass wire for this as it would not be nearly strong enough.
For my chape I tried to follow the one I was copying as closely as possible. On mine all of the elements on the front (the pierced front plate and the three appliques) are soldered on. The bracing piece on the back though is riveted on with very short rivets (which I found extremely fiddly to do), after first being soldered at both ends.
For the cross hangers on my scabbard, you need to remember that the ones you have seen on my thread are only temporary ones which I have attached with nails which run right through the scabbard and which I have clenched over at the back. I haven't actually finished the thread (I have still to obtain tinning paste though and when I do get it I will be disassembling it to tin it before assembling it again) yet.
A note on brass working - don't be afraid to anneal the brass again after each piece of working. As you work it, either by bending or hammering, it will harden (it is known as 'work hardening') and can become brittle. Annealing counteracts this, so as you continue working the brass you need to keep stopping to anneal it as well.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
Sorry about that BIG delay, I do have an update here, gives a sec or rambling...
It has taken me ages to sort out this stamp, but I am a busy guy and my career dreams have been getting in the way. I'm a tennis player, and that's my profession. Making things like this is part time, and more so full time when retired ...not too far off
I hope my update is enough till tomorrow, as I dedicate half an hour ever night or two. All the proceedings were accomplished yesterday night, and today!
When looking at the pics, it's back to front in order, sorry
That looks wonderful! You can feel very proud of yourself. If it was mine I would certainly be proud of having done that good a job of what can be a very tricky piece.
Well done! I look forward to seeing more.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
So here is another update from last night, no work tonight sorry, but I copied of a correct recreation which had the same locket plate as me. Anyway, it's the first cross hanger, it needs a little sanding in some flat areas, and I still gotta think about rivets. But I'm conscious about the size of the loops, but I can't do much about it, except make another 2 smaller, but then I'm not sure, as I've seen some pretty big ones, and in relation to the size of my scabbard, they seem reasonable. Anyway, opinions? Here's pics!
Very nice. Don't forget to attach the suspension rings before you close up the cross hangers, as it would be impossible to attach them afterwards.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
lmao yes Crispvs, thanks very much, I will work on the other one tomorrow. Just tell me, nails through scabbard? Rivets through scabbard? Rivets only through brass and small nails into scabbard? For assembly Also, for those rings, I'm looking at maybe, gardening hose stuff, solid brass.
Most surviving cross hangers only have nail/rivet holes at the back, suggesting that a lot of them were nailed to their scabbards from the back, which would be in line with how they assembled many other items, such as pugio handles. Some cross hangers do feature holes in both front and back though, indicating that rivets or nails passed right through these scabbards. Unfortunately museums don't tend to display scabbard parts in a way that lets the backs be seen and neither do books. However, it would not surprise me to find that nails had been used with the points clenched over at the back. Dagger sheaths were sometimes assembled this way, although some were riveted instead. I am not certain though what practice was used for attaching cross hangers to sword scabbards where the rivet/nail passed right through.
There are others here on RAT though who will know more. If you haven't already contacted Matt Lukes, do send him a message, and Christian Koepfler (Gaius Beerquitius here on RAT) may also be able to help.
Regarding hose fittings, that was pretty much what I used, as you can see if you have another look at my sword and scabbard thread. They were quite a lot of work but I was very satisfied with the result.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
I would agree with Crispvs about Museums and also photographs of things only showing one view, when I first every made the Fulham sword I payed for photographs from the British Museum. In fact I even got them to make exact one to one shots of the upper and mid decoration pieces which I can draw onto tracing paper for when I do hand worked repousse.
For these particular pieces I use 8 thou' of an inch thick brass sheet and as I have mentioned, where I trace the picture onto the brass sheet this is the kind of work that I would think anyone can do if they have even just a little artistic ability.
With the picture transfered to the brass sheet it is where one scibes the lines with the metal placed onto a piece of leather, then useing hand rubbing at front and rear of the brass on soft leather a picture will emerge it's all a matter of patience and practice.
When the work is finished and from the fact it is only 8 thou' thick a good tip is to fill the rear with solder to help support the picture and this works well however it should be mentioned that the Fulham decoration is not filled.
Where it comes to suspension rings it might be worth a mention that in the past I found that Lee Prevo did supply cast bronze rings that were ideal for this job.
The Fulham scabbard is most interesting for the guttering appears to have been made from one piece of bronze, this is where the inside shape of the scabbard has been cut out then the remaining strip was formed into it's U shape as a guttering.
The cross bands were riveted on from the rear of the guttering which indicates that the frame of the scabbard was made as a skeleton type frame work, with the wood or leather covered wood slid into this frame after the fitment of the cross bands.
The cross hanger bands did not wrap completely around the scabbard but extended only a short way past the rear inside edge of the guttering, there was a lower complete wrap around band at the lower end of the central decoration piece. Then at the top of the scabbard there was the complete wrap around decoration piece soldered together that was held in place by a pin that went into the wood scsabbard at it's lower edge centre rear.
The long mid decoration piece was simply held in place by the lower suspension cross hanger and the other lower complete cross band.
Alright, thank you everyone. I will take note of everything, but right now everything is straight forward.
For the cross hanger I have now, I have the option as to how to secure the whole frame to the scabbard, but you're saying it isn't to wrap entirely around the back with a center rivet holding the two ends together? Or does it not matter...This central decoration piece. Is it like a plate to go under the middle lower cross hanger so it doesn't look odd? I think I could handle that... if you have pictures, that'd be helpful. Or links.
The cross hangers you have made are fine where I refer to cross hangers not going all the way around the scabbard is only with reference to the Fulham sword in particular.
In fact as Crispvs has mentioned there are even hangers that have holes that go completely through the whole scabbard, there are hangers that do go all the way around with others that only go as far as the guttering at the rear.
What is a good idea for the ones going all the way around a scabbard is to thin out the two edges and solder them together, then they can be slid on from the bottom of the scabbard prior to fitting the chape.
On the majority of cross-hangers I have seen which still retain their rear parts, these consist of one long end and one short end, with the long end passing right across the back and overlapping the short end. Sometimes one of the holes goes through the two overlapping layers and the other hole goes through the corresponding point at the other end, suggesting that the nails were driven into the wood at the edges of the scabbard body. In some cases these might also pass through the front of the cross-hanger. On other cross-hangers the two holes are positioned closer together and could not have gone through the sides of the scabbard body. The method used to attach these may have been to insert a bar of metal into the scabbard and then drive the nails through the two holes and through the back of the scabbard (I would drill pilot holes first). On hitting the metal bar the points of the nails would curl over to clench them. I suspect that the overlapping ends may have been soldered together on these but my German is not good enough to check myself.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
...not too far off 
