Tim Harris - Swordsmith

After a day off for family, the rapier production line isn't quite ripping along, but it's moving.
That's the central framing for a custom swept, an Iberian barquilla and two Thibault hilts done.

Production-lining some rapier hilts - as you might if you have a few to make.

The owner of this 2023 rapier kindly provided an action shot from a recent event.
That's performance I can be proud of.

Trying for a cut or two above munitions grade with this longsword. The stained, faceted rock maple grip demands it.
It's for an occasion, so no full reveal until after that.

2024/29: Another big sword.
My workplace neighbour, the estimable proprietor of Red Country Forge, wanted a montante to match their stature for a significant birthday, and I just managed to get it done in time.( There they are with it in the last pic)

With something this size, the potential for trouble is greater. The forging went surprisingly well, but it sabred a bit in the foible during heat-treating. This is correctable, but it's a slow process. It took over a week to get it right.

I'm proud of this one nonetheless.
Overall length 186cm, blade 136cm, balancing at 8cm, 2.4kg.

It doesn't really show in this pic, but the hollow grind on this longsword is coming together nicely.
It always feels like an achievement when I manage one freehand at this scale.
There will be some hand sanding to do once a pass or two on the buff shows up the areas that need more attention.

I'm not crazy about hand sanding, but this one is a wedding sword, and it needs to look just so.

Hollow-ground fortes, 5kg flex, no soft spots.
Happy days.

2024/27 & 28 went out this week, a basket-hilt feder and a gym sabre respectively.

Feder: blade length 87cm, balancing at 8cm, 1.2kg
Sabre: blade length 85cm, balancing at 11cm, 773gm.

Blades back from heat treating, ready to be finished and hilted. The micro-management paid off, as there's not much correcting to do. [Massive sigh of relief - there's always the fear that there will be horrible twisting and/or warping despite all efforts ]
So much busyness ahead.

Also pictured - a couple of new ones ready for testing.

Straightened, touchmarked, checked and off to heat-treating.
Despite the sanity-testing business of chasing out warps and twists, I always enjoy getting to this stage.

Montante prepped for heat-treating (subject to another check or two).
The distal taper on this is 7mm to 3mm.
Grind, measure repeat.
Chasing consistency to 0.05mm over 1360mm of blade does my head in.

The current 14, inching towards heat-treat.
They were worked over with a 40grit flap disc on an angle grinder to take off the forge scale, then the edges were cleaned up.
At this point, they've had a few passes on the belt grinder at 60grit to show up areas that need attention.
Next comes the rough shaping where required - some will be profiled after heat treating. And then... hours of careful measuring and grinding to ensure an even distal taper.

The first shot is most of what I've forged since
May 8th. Not pictured are the 3 that didn't work out and four still needing further forging.

I've decided to divide the herd and concentrate on the ones that need to be out for heat-treat as soon as possible. (Pic 2)

This week's anvil work: 3 arming swords, a montante towering out of frame, a fencing sabre, a smallsword, 4 longswords, 4 rapiers, 4 broadswords. The longswords will need another pass, but everything else is ready for pre heat-treat grinding.

I'm experimenting a lot with this batch - from how I cut stock through to the hammers and forging techniques I use.

I've been forging swords for well over 20 years now and every blade is still an education.

Fresh steel, more blades....
Finished the rough work on 4 longswords, started yesterday (l). The rest - 2 rapiers, 2 arming swords, 4 fencing sabres and 4 sideswords - were from scratch today. Still a bit to do on some of them, but almost ready for the anvil.
There's a Hungarian sabre in the works too, but it didn't make the line-up.

The larval stages aren't pretty, but this was a good day's work.

Sometimes it's good to remind myself that this is what I do for a living.

It seems like forever since I did any forging....
After a late start, the first powerhammer session of the year yielded 4 rapiers ready for the anvil, and major progress on 4 broadswords and a montante.
Result!

Good news for customers on this year's order board - work on the new batch of blades has started at long, long last. Thanks for your patience so far.
Stock cut for rapiers and broadswords, fencing sabres and something awkwardly large. (Bar on the right is 1000x45x6mm.
More to come.

Hilts finished, blades shaped and polished. Bar a couple of minor tweaks, this quartet of smallswords is pretty much finished.

The last couple of days' work on smallsword hilts.
By the time I got to the last one, I had the process pretty well sussed.
Next, clean up the hilts and finish the blades.

I'm calling this 2024/21-22.
The customer wanted exchange blades for their existing baskethilt feder - sabre and thrust-specific.
It was an interesting commission.
Sabre: blade length 80cm, balancing at 8cm
Thrust: blade length 89cm, balancing at 9cm.
Both 1.25 kg when mounted to hilt.

Yeah, good. Another three of them thanks.

This beautiful rapier by Brad White had taken a few hard hits.
It was an honour to have it in the workshop for a bit of refurbishment.

I was itching to test this new backsword. The lines of the blade were clean, the fuller was crisp, and with really sweet heft and balance, it felt very good in the hand.
Shortly into its first test bout yesterday, I wanted to keep it. I was enjoying its performance so much that I gave it another bout and...... found a soft spot where it took a set in either direction. Not good.

I know it isn't the heat-treat, and I couldn't find any problem with the grind. Plenty of meat on the spine. It's beyond me, and a matter for wiser heads than mine.

Glad it was me who found out before the customer.

A bit of a closer look at 2024/17, one of the latest baskethilts.
This one has a conventional blade, with double fullers in the forte.
Blade length 86cm, balancing at 8cm, 1.28kg.

Customisation of a Darkwood rapier hilt...
Tang shortened, furniture blackened and a new ebony grip crafted to customer specs.
(The wood was sourced from a 20th century tourist trade carving)

2024/16-20. A clutch of fresh baskethilts about to make their way in the world.

Most are feder blades on standard laser-cut baskets, very much like ones posted before, but one will get a separate post.

2024/15 was delivered last week.
HEMA blade in the manner of the British 1895 pattern, with a blackened version of an 1845 pattern hilt.
I'm happy with the contrast between the black bell and the rest of the furniture.
Blade length 83cm, balancing at 13cm, 782gm.

Working in parallel seems to make sense when doing a number of similar things.
5 baskethilts nearly complete.

2024/14 arrived with its owner yesterday.
As mentioned before, it's a fencing version of an original 1845 pattern infantry sabre (shown in first photo), with an extended hilt to fit a HEMA glove. Matte finish on the blade, as requested. Rayskin grip.
Blade length 83cm, balancing at 12cm (same as original), 841gm.

#1845