Elenglin - Sword of Westernesse
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:15 pm
May I introduce Elenglin - “Star-glint†in the Sindarin tongue:
This is another work that’s been loooong in coming: a year ago Odigan described its origin as an off-the-shelf sword in his Edge of the Wild article “Rehilting a Blade†-
Edge of the Wild: Volume 1 Issue 4: Winter 2017
The pommel is of course the same one as on Greg and Manv’s Bristol swords, mounted by Odigan on a longer Hanwei “Single Hand Sword†blade. The guard was the one the sword came with, reforged by Odigan in a vaguely “Borderwatch†shape that I think complements the pommel quite nicely.
Between the resulting lines and the inscription, Odigan crafted I think the most “Middle-earthy†sword I’ve ever seen. It’s exactly what I’d always imagined some hero of Westernesse carrying through the wild!
On the Inscription:
A long part of the delay since beginning this project was my own on-again / off-again work on the Sindarin for the inscription.
Some of the translation is hypothetical, drawing from Ryszard Derdzinski‘s translation of the Ave Maria, but most is fairly textbook. The text is written in the Angerthas Daeron, as Aragorn notes at Weathertop that the Rangers do still use runes.
Translated, the inscription reads:
I am Elenglin - Keep faith, I will watch with you.
Odigan has a lovely closeup of the characters on his instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWle91NFf2n/
The themes of the inscription were based on those of the Lord of the Rings narrative itself - faith, hope, and the long duty of those who stood guard. It certainly helped that those themes were reflected in the Professor’s linguistic work enough that a reasonably confident translation was possible.
On the scabbard:
The scabbard core came from Greg, in trade for a bit of sewing last year. Doing the scabbard leatherwork was a nightmare I fear, and delayed the work for at least a month as I struggled getting a vinegar black to work with the vegtan goatskin I’d gotten. No matter what I tried - even soaking in tannins or priming with iron gall ink - I never got better than a deep brown.
Eventually I took Elwindil’s advice and called Springfield Leather. They sent a long thin piece of their Hermann Oak calfskin, and it took the black color immediately. Great stuff to work with!
The belt fittings, stamp, and scabbard chape all come from Shapeways. Their steel needs a fair amount of polish, but it does eventually come out fairly good.
Following historical examples, the scabbard has its own dedicated belt rather than buckling on to my regular waistbelt. I used a fairly simple offset suspension, choosing to keep the angle of hang fairly vertical, based off Greg’s “the sword shall come from under the cloak†comment. It is indeed quite discreet under a cloak.
After completing the scabbard I came across Tod’s discussion of scabbards, where he comments that the wider spacing on a medieval scabbard is designed to give more stability - mine is not so secure as his, though I’m happy enough with it and won’t be remaking it any time soon.
On handling the sword:
The sword itself feels lovely: when I first received it last year from Odigan I found it rather heavy and clunky - that turned out to be only my own untrained forearms. A few practice cuts through the air every day or so and now it feels light and agile as a feather.
I certainly don't deserve this sword, but for the moment I'm its keeper. Thank you Odigan.
Lacho calad! Drego morn!
This is another work that’s been loooong in coming: a year ago Odigan described its origin as an off-the-shelf sword in his Edge of the Wild article “Rehilting a Blade†-
Edge of the Wild: Volume 1 Issue 4: Winter 2017
The pommel is of course the same one as on Greg and Manv’s Bristol swords, mounted by Odigan on a longer Hanwei “Single Hand Sword†blade. The guard was the one the sword came with, reforged by Odigan in a vaguely “Borderwatch†shape that I think complements the pommel quite nicely.
Between the resulting lines and the inscription, Odigan crafted I think the most “Middle-earthy†sword I’ve ever seen. It’s exactly what I’d always imagined some hero of Westernesse carrying through the wild!
On the Inscription:
A long part of the delay since beginning this project was my own on-again / off-again work on the Sindarin for the inscription.
Some of the translation is hypothetical, drawing from Ryszard Derdzinski‘s translation of the Ave Maria, but most is fairly textbook. The text is written in the Angerthas Daeron, as Aragorn notes at Weathertop that the Rangers do still use runes.
Translated, the inscription reads:
I am Elenglin - Keep faith, I will watch with you.
Odigan has a lovely closeup of the characters on his instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWle91NFf2n/
The themes of the inscription were based on those of the Lord of the Rings narrative itself - faith, hope, and the long duty of those who stood guard. It certainly helped that those themes were reflected in the Professor’s linguistic work enough that a reasonably confident translation was possible.
On the scabbard:
The scabbard core came from Greg, in trade for a bit of sewing last year. Doing the scabbard leatherwork was a nightmare I fear, and delayed the work for at least a month as I struggled getting a vinegar black to work with the vegtan goatskin I’d gotten. No matter what I tried - even soaking in tannins or priming with iron gall ink - I never got better than a deep brown.
Eventually I took Elwindil’s advice and called Springfield Leather. They sent a long thin piece of their Hermann Oak calfskin, and it took the black color immediately. Great stuff to work with!
The belt fittings, stamp, and scabbard chape all come from Shapeways. Their steel needs a fair amount of polish, but it does eventually come out fairly good.
Following historical examples, the scabbard has its own dedicated belt rather than buckling on to my regular waistbelt. I used a fairly simple offset suspension, choosing to keep the angle of hang fairly vertical, based off Greg’s “the sword shall come from under the cloak†comment. It is indeed quite discreet under a cloak.
After completing the scabbard I came across Tod’s discussion of scabbards, where he comments that the wider spacing on a medieval scabbard is designed to give more stability - mine is not so secure as his, though I’m happy enough with it and won’t be remaking it any time soon.
On handling the sword:
The sword itself feels lovely: when I first received it last year from Odigan I found it rather heavy and clunky - that turned out to be only my own untrained forearms. A few practice cuts through the air every day or so and now it feels light and agile as a feather.
I certainly don't deserve this sword, but for the moment I'm its keeper. Thank you Odigan.
Lacho calad! Drego morn!