long sax

[mcapanelli]

Forgive my ignorance but how do you burn in the tang?

[Peter Remling]

Mike,

There was a segment on a History channel show, Axes, Knives and Swords, where Paul Champagne, showed how a tang was burned in. First you copy the dimensions of your tang on to a blank piece of steel. Cut it out and clean it up. Heat it up and push it into the handle material. Pull it out, clean out the hole and repeat until you have the hole completely through the handle. Pull it out and insert the actual tang and you're done with a perfect fit.

That's how it's supposed to be done and no I've never tried it.

[dwayne davis]

No problem. first i drilled a pilot/ vent hole the length of the handle. the diamiter of the hole is a bit bigger than the thickness of the blade but thats ok. then i used a SEPERATE peice of steel the same shape and size of the tang for the burning. i simply used a propane torch to heat the steel up and began the process of heating then puching the steel into the pilot hole, to burn out the hole to the size of the seax tang. all you have to do is take youre time. also after two or three burns i placed the handle into water for a minute or two. to keep it damp in order to control the ammount of charring in the hole. i repeated the cycle periodicly checking the fitt with the actual sax tang. when i could just about push it in all the way i stopped. then i used epoxy ( the two part fivfe minuet stuff) to fill the hole. then i pushed the sax tang down into the handle, then finished by GENTLY tapping it home with a hammer. You have to be carefull in the burning/ fitting stage or you will crack the wood and destroy all youre work. The whole process is farly historicly accurate ( minus the modern tools and modern glue) oh the other function of the hole all the way through is to allow excess epoxy to flow out the bottom. Note: if you want to be historicly accurate you could make resin glue from pine pitch snd use it, if you know how.

[Eric C]

In The Complete Bladesmith, Jim Hrisoulas uses the tang itself. That is how I've done it. But you risk ruining the temper in the blade if you don't control the heat very well. If you turn the ricasso area a little blue, that's okay as it will give some springiness there instead of having it brittle.

But I like the idea of using a separate piece of steel. There is no chance of damaging your blade that way.

[kaelln]

I like the idea of the pilot hole. It reduces the chance of going astray, and the amount of burning that needs to be done, thus resulting in a quicker job. Good idea, Jolromir!

[Peter Remling]

I like the idea of the pilot hole. It reduces the chance of going astray, and the amount of burning that needs to be done, thus resulting in a quicker job. Good idea, Jolromir!

I like the idea too, but what about the extra oxygen igniting the handle material from the inside ? Do you have to remove the hot tang/psuedo tang quickly ?

[Eric C]

I haven't had to in the past. But the grip material has been known to get hot before. I've done like Jolromir and thrown it into my slack tub to make certain any residual sparks are out.

[Peter Remling]

Sounds good! I just finished a quiver today and then have four dagger scabbards and a sword scabbard to do. After that I have a nice Albion blade, guard and pommel from the Moat Sale I bought last year.

So I guess I'm going to try and burn a tang hole. Keep you posted after I start.

[dwayne davis]

Hey remember GO SLOW, and get the steel red hot. and you should do fine

[Willrett]

A quiver Pete?????

[Peter Remling]

A quiver Pete?????

Yes! It goes in the mail Weds morning. Check the pocket when you get it.

[dwayne davis]

Ok she's finally done.... i decided not to engrave the blade for now. the hilt has two stylize horse heads on it as well as eight pointed star along with a primative pictogram style landscape kinda telling a story of begining life in Rohan and eventually passing in to the north in the hands or a ranger.. so next up is a sheath for her to ride in. i call her Grim wind.

[Ernildir]

I love the hilt!

[Mirimaran]

Outstanding! I love the idea of the blade's history being passed on through the carving on the hilt! Well done!

[Peter Remling]

Very nicely done !