Making a late 4th c. spatha from nothing

[M. Val. Naso]

Hi there!

We've thought with some guys from the group, that we are going to make ourselves brand new spathas off season. Their primary role is fighting, while being reasonably nice. This little DIY is because we don't really have the money to just buy one. Average salary here is like 450 euros net, and we don't even have jobs as we are students in uni.

We sided with laser cutting, mainly because we can't really work with metals (we can with wood and leather, but after I almost cut my shin in half with an angle grinder, no way I'm using those again).

After cutting (we do need a schematic drawing for the company which would do it, that will be a pain in the a**, do any of you know how to make these besides getting an expensive program and drawing it yourself?), we will get it grinded a bit: we'll start with 5mm thickness in the middle and get it to 2 at the edges. That will make it more authentic, stronger, and waaaaay lighter (ab. 70% of the original!). We are thinking of a length of 650 mm and a width of ab. 40 mm. Would this be good? We've had bad experience with bigger ones.

After grinding comes the heat treating, so it won't bend on harder impacts.

Tha handle will be made of wood, all of it I suppose. The grip is from two parts (though I'm inclined to use a tapering grip, as seen on the Honorius/Probus diptych), and we will make a little covering brass plate for the hilts' top for added defence and better balance. What was the tapering grip-type covered with?

Thanks for the replies in advance, hope I can inform you on our progress in the future.


Mark

[MartinWard]

Hi Mark

Sounds expensive! hope you have good contacts for the metal working, good luck with this, its a shame you couldnt rework the deepeeka spathas, would it work out cheaper?

best wishes

martin

[M. Val. Naso]

We've calculated at most 100 euros for one sword without scabbard with exact price offers. Also Deepeeka spathas aren't really meant for fighting.

[MartinWard]

we use deepeeka kit for combat including gladius and spatha as long as you dont do blade on blade they hold up pretty well, but as you say not cheap if you are limited on budget

[Crispvs]

When I first started out in re-enactment twenty years ago, we were all students on small budgets and as an added problem we had no suppliers whatsoever for the kit we needed (I was in New Zealand). It was a case of making everything ourselves from whatever we could get hold of. Clothes were made from old blankets; shoes, belts and bags from hides which were so poor that the local leather factory had thrown them straight on the rubbish skip rather than use them; and weapons from pieces of scrap steel which were too small for the local light engineering firms to have any use for them other than to sell them off to the occasional hobbyist for peanuts. We taught ourselves from books to sew and stretch leather, to make tablet woven braids and (in my case) to carve bone.

The steel we used was generally 6mm thick and we cut our blades roughly to shape with an ordinary hacksaw and finished the shaping with a large file (which was very time consuming). We used an angle grinder (which was fun at first as we were still learning to use it) to grind the edges down to a 3mm edge. Spearheads were welded into pieces of steel pipe which acted as ferules by one member during holidays, while he worked at his uncle's garage. All our handles were made from wood and we did it all by hand.





We all had to start somewhere and that was how I started. Even then though, we knew that it was only the starting point and we steadily got better at making our own kit, gradually bringing it up to a far higher standard of accuracy, as well as seeking out people who could make blades and spearheads properly and developing a willingness to spend a little more in order to pay them for their work.
You are at the start of what I am sure will be a long, eventful and hopefully enjoyable journey in this hobby and I wish you every success in your endeavors.

Crispvs

[PhilusEstilius]

Here is some information you might like to use about the drawing of the tang of your sword where it will give more strength for a downwards swing.

The drawing I provide is backed up by pictures of this stricker plate I have from a Roman blade it is 5 mm thick and is 48 mm long, it is 18 mm wide however the slot for the blade is only 34 mm length at its upper surface where on the lower at the shoulder of the blade it is 42 mm length.

This indicates that the tang has no right angle shape in relation to the blade but tapers in from the blade shoulder as I have indicated in my drawing.
[attachment=5264]bld.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=5265]sw1Small.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=5266]sw2Small.jpg[/attachment]

[Crispvs]

Thanks for putting up the pictures Brian.

Just a question though. How do do know it is a striker plate from a sword? Was it associated with other sword fittings which positively identified it? Also, if it was associated with other sword paraphernalia can you be sure that it is not a mouth plate from the scabbard of a narrow bladed weapon?

Crispvs

[PhilusEstilius]

Crispvs.

It is not a mouth plate from a scabbard for it is a solid chunk of bronze that has a double incised line pattern around its edge and was found not so far from one of my other pieces which is a scabbard chape of which as you can see I have made repro's of in the past.

The chape has an opening at the top of 38 mm and it is about 44 mm long but would have been about 54 mm had it's securing ring still have been there but this had broken leaving the nail and ring still in the wood of what I think to be a 1st century cavalry spartha.

I should also mention that the decoration at the front has been two Acanthus leaves however the left one has worn away completely that might suggest that maybe the riders shield had been rubbing against it for some time before it eventually came loose and fell off the scabbard.
[attachment=5267]chape082Small.jpg[/attachment]

[Virilis]

Hi Mark!

Here is some info about 4th c. AD spatha blades (according to Miks...):

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd270...2f7e37.jpg

[Augustus Janus]

Hello Mark,

I have offered to make blade drawings a while back. I don't have Autocad but I do have Draftsight which creates Autocad compatible DWG and DXF drawings and I have many years experience using Autocad up through Rev 2010. Draftsight is free and operates in much the same manner as Autocad though obviously the real Autocad is much more powerful and better. But for the free price Draftsight is fantastic.

If you could send me a good sketch of the blade I could give it a go and make CAD drawings for it. Post the sketches or Email me if you like [email protected]

Jim