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Three-quarter hilt rapier

This is a sword I made. I constructed the guard, grip and pommel from scratch, and put it on stage-combat rapier blade. Everything was made of steel, shaped with an oxy-acetylene torch, MIG welder, grinders and various files. The grip is a piece of wood with a carved design which was wire-wrapped, and then hammered to reveal the design.

21 comments

Dec 11, 2011. 3:35 PMdidgitalpunk says:

i love the handle

Apr 13, 2011. 6:52 PMSWV1787 says:

I think the pommel looks too heavy to me, but I really like the guard.

Apr 13, 2011. 9:07 PMEric Hart (author) says:

In a stage-combat sword like this one, the balance point wants to be around where the grip meets the blade. It gives the actor more control over stopping the blade mid-swing should something go wrong. A heavy pommel helps achieve that.

Dec 11, 2011. 3:35 PMdidgitalpunk says:

good to know

Sep 23, 2011. 8:57 PMzglynn says:

my name is Enigo Montoya you killed my father prepare to die.

Nov 8, 2011. 5:04 PMelectridanger says:

my father was killed by a man with five fingers on his right hand...

Nov 25, 2011. 4:56 PMcurvy77 says:

no it wasent me it was the one armed man!

Apr 28, 2011. 6:21 PMninja of suburbia says:

Would you consider actually going through the process again and creating an instructable on it? I personally would greatly appreciate it, and I'm sure others would as well. This is one of two swords on this site that I would actually consider combat grade. This is an excellent quality sword. If you did do an instructable, would you consider doing a full-hilt rapier? ;)

Sep 17, 2011. 12:44 AMnerd12 says:

what is the other sword?

Sep 23, 2011. 3:59 PMninja of suburbia says:

The Sword-hilted Broken-back Seax, by ben potter.

Sep 23, 2011. 6:42 PMnerd12 says:

i saw that one. he litrally wrote a book there were so many instructions. what about the rivited sword of the monkey

Sep 23, 2011. 8:27 PMninja of suburbia says:

That one is not quite combat grade. He needs more practice in swordsmithing in general, and especially in his hammer work. overall, as a blacksmith myself, i would have to give the sword a c+. not because of any one thing, but numerous moderate things like the blade not tempered correctly, the shoddy hammer work, the finish work, all of these add up to a servicable but not overly good sword. Personally, i wouldn't dream of using it in combat. he's on the right track, but he just needs to refine his technique and study his metallurgy a bit more.

Sep 24, 2011. 6:29 PMnerd12 says:

in this sword he just shows the hilt. i think it is a work of beauty but how can you know that it is combat grade or not.

Sep 25, 2011. 6:14 PMninja of suburbia says:

this one? he shows the full blade in the 4th pic. also, from the close ups of the hilt, you can see the ricasso, the most important part of the blade, since it provides the strength needed to prevent the blade shearing off at the hilt. Since I have worked quite a bit with steel, including forging and casting, I can actually tell by the textures of the guard and the blade. this blade is not a mirror finished piece, which proves it is not stainless steel (and thus not a cheap factory made blade) and provides three possibilities. first, it is handmade and hand polished, and as such is combat grade, two, it is a refurbished blade, and the only blades worth refurbishing are hand forged blades (which are almost always combat grade, the only exceptions are ceremonial swords.) or three, it is a high-quality steel factory made blade, specifically made to be combat grade. Also, he stated that this piece was mounted onto a stage combat rapier blade. stage combat blades are high quality steel blades, and the only real difference between stage combat blades and live combat blades is the sharpness of the age. Therefore, I conclude that this blade is a combat grade piece.