Well it isn't a sword but at 15+ inches it is close. Blade is CIL cultivator shovel & saw steel. Handle is brass,ironwood, cowbone & fibre spacers. Whacha think? http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww100/nifenut/PICT0013.jpg
I'll second that! Hmmm. Reminds me that I have a stack of cultivator shovels sitting at my brother-in-law's farm.
There was a small cold shut in one spot of the billet. Probably wouldn't affect performance, but enough of an imperfection to render the knife unsalable. Another one to add to the show & tell box. After making the billet, I forged the shape of the knife & it was in the ricasso area where the weld opened up. Probably if I would have just done the knife using stock removal methods there would have been no problem, but solid welds should be able to act as solid stock. I once read a post by J.D. Smith saying that the last weld is always the weakest & the way to minimize failure is to do you last weld thick & then reduce thickness at welding heat. I'll remember that next time. Even with the trials & failures that come with learning how to do this stuff properly it's still a blast !!
