A Little Help

[Daerir]

I have the 18" Sax Machete and I'm having a little problem. I bought a brass flatbar and made a crossguard. Now I need to find the leather for the handle and a thought occured: what can I use for a pommel? If anyone is familiar with the saxe knives please I could use some ideas, I'd prefer if it involved brass in someway to match the crossguard.

[Peter Remling]

Depending on what the grip looks like, you could use a piece of the same bar stock you used for the guard or Atlanta Cutlery sells a number of brass pommels and guards. You could use a one of theirs or convert one of their guards into a pommel/butt cap.

[Jon]

I actually tried using a solid door knob once, and with a bit of shaping it was actually not bad!

An easy option if you have a grinder and a ... spare door?

[Peter Remling]

There are also brass draw pulls available. Some are shaped similar to a pommel and others (if you search around) are made in various shapes including animal heads. Try Ebay if searching for something really different or unusual.

[Daerir]

Well I had this idea of taking a brass disc sort of thing and putting a rounded pommel on the bottom, but then comes the way of attatching it. I would need to cut a slot into the circle withough cutting into the sides and I have no clue how I could manage that.

[deadextra]

Go with a drill press and a file. Depending on the particular mix in your copper alloy, then you may be able to repeatedly hammer the lower guard over the tang and flatten it out until the shape is properly made.

[Ringulf]

my solution in the past was to make the front and rear guards out of 1" copper plumbing fittings The forward one slit and pressed up to the "ricasso" for lack of a better description, then your handle material, be it wood, whole or scaled, leather, ringed or scaled, or polymer (if you look at the CS Seax projects you will see this can also be done.)
Finally the same 1" cap on the back pinned or peened to get it nice and tight. this can be as utilitarian or ornate as you want to make it and with the copper you have the advantage of developing a cool "Verdigriss" green patina over time (very rangery in my estimation!)

[Elemmakil]

It should be pointed out that period saxes often did not have a pommel or guard at all. Something to consider. I've attached a picture of a Viking scramasax that I made awhile back to show the possibilities.

[Mirimaran]

Very nice, Elemmakil! Did you do a sheath for it as well?

Ken

[Elemmakil]

Very nice, Elemmakil! Did you do a sheath for it as well?

Ken

Only a rudimentary one. A much more "blingy" version is in work, though.

[Daerir]

Okay, I've ran into a Black Gate I really liked the idea of using a pipe end cap for the pommel, but I cant find any end caps made of brass, and I dont think a brass crossguard and a copper pommel would look very good. I need some more ideas for a pommel.

[Ringulf]

Yeah the cap idea was supposed to work with a front and rear cap, the front being slit to allow the tang to go through. you can still do the crossguard in front of it but it's not really needed.
If you have the crossguard made in brass you could always layer a few more pieces of it in a square or circle or even graduated layers for the pummle. Using the same material on each side would look pretty nice.

[Peter Remling]

Okay, I've ran into a Black Gate I really liked the idea of using a pipe end cap for the pommel, but I cant find any end caps made of brass, and I dont think a brass crossguard and a copper pommel would look very good. I need some more ideas for a pommel.

A little out of the box but, how about some of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aladdin-style-O ... 58a1ed5664

or light bulb socket parts (they could be cut into rings and placed over either end of the grip:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lamp-part-brass ... 588a374c53

[Daerir]

Well I have decided that until I can find a small brass disc that isnt through the roof in price, im just gonna put the saxe in the corner for a while

[Mirimaran]

You can get the copper end caps at Lowes and Home Depot very inexpensively. I just bought two 1 inch caps the other day for about 5 bucks for the pair.

Ken