Brass work for Gladius in process.

[Magnus]

Watch using Olive oil, it's an organic based oil but unlike linseed, is somewhat unprocessed and could go rancid on you. I would stick to Linseed oil. If you want to darken the wood, give it a coat or two of neatsfoot oil first, then a sealing coat of linseed.

Is your hilt all one piece of wood?

For your terminal knob, I ordered some on Ebay...I think I searched for brass balls (funny, I know), which I also used for ends of torcs. But a friend used one in the end of his scabbard and it turned out pretty well. Matt Lukes did a similar thing on my scabbard. I will snag a picture when I get home.

Here is the guy I think I got the brass balls from...they come in different sizes. What we basically did was solder a ball in between the end of the two brass pieces that make up the bottom chape.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ten-1-2-threaded-bra...48368d9e7f