Late Roman Spatha- Pattern welded blade

[markusaurelius]

After commissioning a couple beautiful sword blades from jackmcauliffe (RAT) I wanted to start a thread to show case the blade, and the subsequent making of the handle, scabbard. This will be an ongoing thread and the completed sword will likely be for sale once complete.

Blade details:

- bloomery/smelted iron

[attachment=9579]1-rawOre.jpg[/attachment]

- Smelting the iron

[attachment=9580]2-smelting.jpg[/attachment]

- Raw Iron

[attachment=9581]4-rawiron.jpg[/attachment]

- Iron bar forming

[attachment=9582]7-Ironbarforming.jpg[/attachment]

- Four Iron bars, half twisted and opposing spiral. This pattern was taken after one of the complete Roman swords found at Illerup Adal.

[attachment=9583]8-barshalftwist.jpg[/attachment]

- Hardened steel edging being put in place

[attachment=9584]10-barswsteeledgesformed.jpg[/attachment]

- Hammered blade

[attachment=9585]13-rawhammedblade.jpg[/attachment]

- Nearly complete- see the beautiful pattern weld showing through in the blade

[attachment=9586]16-nearlycomplete.jpg[/attachment]

[markusaurelius]

Final blade with silver the bronze makers mark inlay. It is 4.5cm wide at the hilt and has a blade length of 67cm with a single shallow fuller.

[attachment=9587]FinalBladewithmakersmark.jpg[/attachment]

Now on to the handle parts

The guard and pommel are taken from Illerup finds, as well as the Roman spatha from Durostorum and a 4th centiry Mosaic

[attachment=9591]Mosaicexample.jpg[/attachment]


[attachment=9588]Durostorumspatha.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=9589]Silvergrips.jpg[/attachment]

The grip is modeled after Frankish and Alimanish ones from the period.

[attachment=9590]Alimanishhandle.jpg[/attachment]

The pommel cap will be straight bar type

[attachment=9592]straightpommelcap.jpg[/attachment]

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Hexagonal Cross Section? Or is it fullered?

Nice work! Looking forward to the end product.

[Virilis]

Wow, excellent looking spatha in the making! Can't wait to see it finished. Any ideas of the scabbard yet?

[markusaurelius]

progress pics, starting with a horn carved grip and wooden end pieces. These wooden pieces then had a formed metal shell made around them


[attachment=9593]hiltstart.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=9594]hiltcomponents.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=9595]hiltcomponents-2.jpg[/attachment]

The scabbard will probably be either the Feltwell one, or the Liebenau.

The cross section of the sword is a single wide fuller, after this drawing from Miks. The blade is a tad thin, so no tree chopping. However I'd never want to do that to such a beautiful blade.

[Virilis]

Great pics, thanks! I doubt that the blade is too thin. In my opinion most reconstructions of roman blades are way too thick. You can tell this by imagining to fold them over many times as was the case in ritual depositions etc.

[Charlie]

Simply beautiful!

[markusaurelius]

Sword is finished. Now on to the scabbard. Leaning towards the Libenau scabbard with two simple brass slides and a nice Gundremmingen type chape. Scabbard will be basswood covered in natural veg tanded pig skin.


[attachment=9694]Sword1-s.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=9695]Sword2-s.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=9696]Sword3-s.jpg[/attachment]

Jacks contacts are as follows in case anyone is interested in his bladesmith work.
[email protected]
www.underhilledge.com

[markusaurelius]

Scabbard being made. Made from basswood (linden), and at this early stage simply has the interior dug out to house the blade and the start of the fitting on the front and hilt area (will be silvered in the end). The Chape will be of the Gundremmingen type with the three rounded bulbed rivets on the bottom. The scabbard will stay bar wood which will be oiled in linseed oil with some type of natural red dye to mix in.

Then to protect and seal it a nice natural bees wax paste. So progress these days....

[attachment=10503]ScabbardandswordII.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=10504]Scabbardandsword.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=10505]Scabbardinterior.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=10506]Scabbardtip.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=10507]Swordinscabbard.jpg[/attachment]

[brennivs - tony drake]

Markus brillant work :lol: Beauty of a blade and handle a credit. Looking forward to the finished scabbard will contact you soon.
Regards Brennivs

[Augustus Janus]

Wow Markus this is looking so good, I am impressed.

[Manius Acilius Italicus]

Fantastic end product Markus. I'd really like to know more about your smelting of that bloomery iron. Where did you get the ore and what procedures do you go through to ensure as few impurities as possible. I love making swords and one day want to produce one as you have from scratch. I know how much labor is used in stock removal and can imagine that one could multiply that a few times coming from the raw. I personally would appreciate your input and keep up the good work with your creations.
Bob
Manius Acilius Italicus

[markusaurelius]

Bob. As much as I want to take credit for the blade I can't (The handle and now the scabbard is my amateurish/ first time work)

See one of the above posts. Jack's (bladesmith) contact info is as follows.

[email protected]
http://www.underhilledge.com/

[Robert]

May I congratulate you on a stunning piece of art, the envy of any artisan. This whole thing is poetry! Blade is maginificant and I really like what you have done for the gilt and the scabbard.

[markusaurelius]

The chape is now partially complete and has been silvered. It still needs the bottom plate with the three studs attached to it which I'll work on soon as well as the top plate.

Then the scabbard slides, oiling and finishing on the scabbard and it may very well be done.
[attachment=10566]Chapeend-1.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=10567]Chapeend-2.jpg[/attachment]