Blade 1, Hilts

Discourse on hilt design and failures


I broke my sword.

I was quite proud of my "Battle Ready" sword for several years. I carried it often, and had little doubt that it would stand up to whatever task I set about.
That proved not to be the case, the small doubt that I *did* have about my carry sword was predicated on the fact that I had no idea how the hilts were constructed.
I had believed the sales blurb about the sword having a "full tang" construction.
I suppose one would have to agree that it was in fact a "full tang" hilt,

OH, except for the small part that holds the whole thing together. Umm, what was I missing here?

Soooo, it's pretty obvious what happened here, the folks who made this sword built it pretty much like every other *historically accurate* Battle Ready Sword, and EVERY one has the same damn silly ass flaw.

I've done a LOT of looking at swords, mostly browsing the net, but I've had plenty of steel to heft, and compare.
I'm going to do some graphical representations of all the swords I've ever seen, hopefully giving you a chance to actually think about what you are buying, from that cheap Katana at $20 to the custom hand forged Battle Ready sword for upwards of $6000 and up.
Before I do that however I'd like to discuss something about the actual usage of a sword, historically accurate details of sword usage are available from texts uncovered, found, translated etc.
From these sources, and some common sense, we can be certain about how a valuable sword was treated and used, from the time they were hammered from bronze to their decline shortly after gunpowder and small arms were developed.

FIRSTLY, consider that what you may have seen in movies, on television, or in print concerning the usage of a sword is a dramatization of probably fictional accounts. The writers, producers, directors, actors and props all conspiring to make a sword battle scene as climactic and exciting as possible.
I ask you to imagine yourself in some past time, armed with a sword, without armor, (as was usual in most actual sword combats), facing a similarly armed opponent. This is not a movie, you don't get to walk away after the scene is over, that man is going to try to kill you.
If you wait until he swings his sword, then attempt to block his swing with your sword, you risk breaking your sword. Yes, if you take two swords and bang them together hard enough, at least one of them is going to be damaged severely, if not both of them, and yes they will break.
If you swing first, you MUST be close enough for your sword to actually strike your opponent, NOT his sword, or you are wasting effort, that you are going to need to stay alive.
Unfortunately for you, that means you are close enough that he can strike YOU also. I know that the texts of actual combats mention a technique named a "parry" where one blade does contact the other, and hopefully blocks a cut, or thrust, but the "parry" is done with the flat of the blade, not the edge and it is a practiced controlled move that attempts to accomplish two distinct goals. The first of course is keeping that steel from killing you, but just as important is leaving your blade and body in a position to kill or injure your opponent.
The truth is that when someone swings a sword at you full force, your ONLY chance is to get the hell out of the way!

I hope you have a sense of the reality you might face in sword combat, but wait, there is MORE!!
Again, from the theatrical aspect, you may be thinking that stuffing sharp steel into your opponent, or hacking off a limb, or chunks of flesh would effectively end the conflict, and you could collect your spoils and walk away with the damsel to cavort in some tavern that evening.
Not so fast there Bucko! The harsh reality is that edged weapons rarely inflict wounds that are immediately fatal or so disabling as to end combat quickly enough that you are no longer in danger of being injured or killed yourself, by your opponent. A sword is an AWESOME weapon, however badly you injure your opponent, it is quite likely that you are going to be injured, by HIS awesome weapon before you get to walk, (limp), away.

I am presenting the use of the sword, as a finesse weapon, rather than a mere sharp cudgel. It is important to undertand this distinction so as to better understand why swords in those times of their actual use were constructed the way that they were, and why that construction was adequate for that usage.
Now I'm going to tell you how I managed to break my own sword, and I can hear some of you groaning in the background.
I was chopping firewood with my sword when the pommel failed. Yep, I was! Yep it did.
Swords were NOT designed to chop firewood, pry open doors, dig holes in the ground, skin animals for meat or stirring/poking at a fire. Swords were designed to kill people.

There is a LOT more to be said, for instance I have not mentioned the use of a sword in a *battle*, rather concentrating on individual combat. In a battle of course the situation is so very different, and very many broken swords on known battlefields attest to the differences.
At the risk of being shouted down by hordes of naysayers, I am going to suggest that the later, more refined sword was not generally an adequate battle weapon. I'm also going to leave that discussion for some other time.
Through the ages that swords were in general use, their shape and construction changed dramatically. Consider a time before swords. Before the use of bronze, wood, bone and stone were the basic materials in use as weapons. Wood and bone could be sharpened to a point and used for stabbing, I am reasonably certain that some creative individuals managed to fashion edged weapons that were considerably less effective than metals, from wood and bone. Stones were made into edges as well, and some examples of obsidian attest to men making edges from whatever was at hand.
In any case, the primitive edged weapons were in fact merely edged cudgels in their use and construction, consisting of a single piece of material shaped into a point and/or edge. The handle area was NOT a separate construction, nor was it any composite of materials, except perhaps a wrapping of hide or cord.
Once Bronze became available, early in it's use as a weapon, again it was used and constructed as an edged and pointed cudgel. The point here that is important to our understanding of the development of the sword is that at some time, some creative individuals began refining the blade and hilts. The handle part was slimmed to fit better in the hand, a pommel was fashioned to provide balance and prevent loss in combat. The blade itself was widened and thinned and pointed.
Sometime later in the age of bronze a guard was fashioned as well, wrapping the handle was common. The craftsmen could take a chunk of bronze and create a functional sword from a single piece. Once iron became available, the sword was fully embodied in its form and function from the experience of the workers in bronze. Iron is NOT bronze, however. If an iron sword were to have a hand guard, it was quite likely going to be cast in bronze and attached in some fashion. That would have been the beginnings of the composite handle for swords. When steel became available, the very same composite techniques were used. As the ages passed, the sword was refined even further, becoming longer, lighter, sharper, pointier, etc.
The use of the composite handle was never seriously questioned, as the usage of the weapon had been refined as well as the materials and construction. Then gunpowder came on the scene, and the sword faded into obscure history.

I am mentioning the composite handle construction, rather harping on it actually because that is in fact the damn silly flaw that *historically accurate* swords offered today all have in common.
The reason I say that, is simply because my own usage of a "sword" is dramatically different than that of the common man at arms from the "dark ages" onwards until the demise of the sword as a common carry weapon. I WANT my sword to be a multi functional tool. I carry my sword, a LOT. Yes I expect my sword to function as a weapon if need be, however I also know that in todays society, I am much more likely to need something I can chop wood with, or pry open a door, or stir at a fire.
With that said you can now view the following graphics from a viewpoint that is NOT of a knight in shining armor, or a wandering brigand, or disconcerted traveller along some primeval forested road. Instead, viewing a sword as a tool, suited to modern life, with it's varied and extreme possible needs.

Here is an example of the cheapest stainless sword construction I have ever seen, on a $20 katana, note the slot cut in the end. That slot is there to help support a 1/4" threaded rod that is welded on as the "tang".

Above: rod welded into slot as "tang". After the tang is welded, a guard of brass was bored with a 1/4" slot, and fitted over the tang. Then a wood dowel was bored out, and fitted over tang, this was capped with a thin brass spacer, then it was all held together with a brass "nut" at the end. See below: assembled unit.

Note that after assembly, there is no way, short of disassembling the hilts to know how poorly this sword was constructed.
If you have one of these $20 Katanas, NEVER EVER, (I do mean, NEVER), swing this sword at anything, for ANY reason. This sword type has been known to fly apart by merely swinging it, without ever hitting anything!!!

If you have not figured out where the sword will fail, perhaps you should take up tiddly winks, and never touch an edged weapon! This hilt composition was never used on "real" swords, that should be fairly obvious.

This next composition example was on a $40 dollar stainless double edge sword that is one step up from the cheap Katana above.

It should not be necessary to repeat the warning above, let me be clear, unless you know by disassembling the hilts that the tang is not a welded rod, NEVER swing a blade at anything for any reason. If the blade separates from the hilts, YOU are responsible for any and all damage done by that loose blade. The welded rod hilts WILL fall apart by merely swinging them. I have seen it happen.

Above: Another welded rod tang. These are sometimes advertised as "half tang" blades, these are really no better than the examples given above. I have seen these on $40-$140 blades, some of the more expensive ones were carbon steel blades. It makes no difference what quality the "blade" itself is, we are discussing the hilts!

This next example is what I consider the MOST dangerous hilt composition I have ever encountered. In fact this is the hilt design that was used on a $300+ officers sword that I was using to cut back blackberry bushes when I was too young and dumb to care. When the blade separated from the hilts I was in a backswing and the blade sailed about 30 feet and landed safely in a pigpen.
This LOOKS like it is the safest welded rod tang that could possibly be implimented.
Why is it so dangerous?
I have had several swords fail in use, that officers sword was the only one that gave me NO warning whatsoever that failure was imminent. I know, I have said that any of the welded rod tangs can fail merely by swinging them without hitting anything. That is true, but it's also true that I have seen many welded rod tangs withstand abuse that was just amazing before failure. This particular implimentation however is the strongest welded rod tang I've ever seen, least likely to fail. The point is that the other designs, unless they fall apart merely by swinging them the first time, (never seen that happen), they always signal failure before it occurs, the blade wobbles in your grip, you can "feel" something getting loose in the hilts.
Not this design. You are merrily hacking away at whatever, and all of a sudden, the blade is winging off to who knows where, without any warning at all. See below :

The hilt example above is called a "full tang". BEWARE!! I consider the term "full tang" decribing the above as deceptive. However it is technically accurate. the tang extends the full length of the handle, and the welded rod is only used to attach the pommel. Again I caution you, unless you have actually seen the hilt disassembled, you must assume that it is welded rod, even if the manufacturer has advertised the assembly as "full tang"!

"Historically Accurate" hilt compositions

This is the most common "Battle Ready" "Full Tang" hilt design that I have seen. Essentially the same as my sword hilts that failed while chopping firewood. I was very lucky that the failure occurred while I was withdrawing the blade rather than on a full swing. There were multiple children, women and non combatant folks around. This could have been a deadly incident. The folks who have experience with my blades know that my edges are reworked by me, so that I can keep a razor edge on at least one portion of the blade, generally one full edge on a double edge blade.
The failure was immediate, without warning of any looseness, in the hilts, no blade wobble. One moment I was wrenching the blade from a chunk of wood, the next I was holding an empty wood grip and brass parts were falling at my feet.

The above is an example of the older brother of the previous. Before the advent of screw technology, the end of the tang was fitted into a hole cast or bored into the pommel, then the end of the tang was peened over to secure and tighten the pommel, thereby affixing the hilt assembly.
I have only held one sword that was assembled this way, I thought it was a very nice blade at the time, I know it was VERY expensive.
However much it cost, the simple fact is that I don't need to be a rocket scientist to tell exactly where those hilts would fail, under battle combat stresses, and what the outcome would be.
Without any warning, one moment would be murderous control, the next would be bafflement as one held a mere piece of hollow wood, with the rest of the weapon winging off to who knows where.

I'm going to skip the captured wedge design of the Japanese styles, I'll mention them again, in a moment though.
This next example is the ONLY hilt composition that I would accept now.
Simply a full tang, with riveted scales. This blade may fail under extreme stress, but I will bet my life that my hilts will withstand battle better than any other hilt devised. Even if the rivets fail and the scales fall off, I'm still holding a damn blade, not a piece of hollow wood.

Note that I am talking about "battle" not mere combat, again single up combat without armor is much more of a finesse usage of the sword. In battle however, armour is common, as is sheilding of some sort, and the weapons in use generally become more edged and pointed cudgels, swung and thrust wildly with as much force as one can muster, for as long as possible. There is no regard for turning the edge, or holding back a stroke to lessen the possibility of damage to the blade or hilts. Of course there is no reason to think that a riveted scale hilt would perform any worse in single up combat than any other hilt design. I can assure you that after having seen and felt hilt failures on the field, knowing beyond ANY doubt that my grip will remain in FULL control of my blade under ANY circumstance short of total blade failure, allows me to perform in combat much better than I have ever been able to in the past.

I have never seen a Katana with the captured wedge hilt design disassembled, however I can envision how such a system might work, and it is rather impressive, with such an extremely limited possibility of failure that I would almost, I say "almost", accept a blade with that hilt composition.

Above: After my $20 Katana fell apart in Live Steel combat, I bought a cheap stainless blade for about $40. The hilts began falling apart in the first few minutes of live steel combat. I went home and using parts from the defunct katana, a grinder and some ingenuity, managed to support the welded rod well enough that this configuration lasted almost 2 years under weekly Live Steel combat, before the blade wobble and hilt looseness told me without doubt that it was time to put it away.
After my "Battle Ready" carbon blade hilt failure, I was left with nought but a machete and a very large screwdiver for sword "type" weapons. I had decided that I would rebuild my carbon Battle blade, making it into a riveted scale hilt design, however looking at it broken, I was reluctant to take the grinder out and start whacking away at it without gaining some experience in the operation. Thereupon my sight fell to the LS practice blade, tossed ignomiously into a corner. This is the result of my first rebuild project, Below:

I am reasonably happy with this blade. The edge is still pretty rough, I had no way to hold the blade while grinding the new edge bevels, so I ran the grinder one handed while holding the blade with the other hand. The handle scales are Mahogany, the rivets are 1/8" steel welding rod. Yep, the blade is painted red. As I said, this was my Live Steel blade. After I "fixed" the hilts for Live Steel use, I painted the blade black, don't ask me why, I just did it. Then I decided I didn't like that, so I painted red over top of the black. I used red so that when I was doing Live Steel, my opponent could ALWAYS see my blade, and wonder why the hell it was red, heh, heh heh!

The blade length is 20 inches plus a fraction, the handle is six plus inches, Mahogany, the total length is just about 26 1/4 inches. This sword is just a bit blade heavy, balancing at 5 1/4 inches from hilts. I was prepared to install a hand guard and pommel, however when it came time to get started on those, I could not locate the brass pieces I was thinking of using. I am fairly sure that with guard and pommel installed as I had planned the blade would balance closer to 2 or 3 inches out from hilts, which would have made for a better "sword" balance.
Naturally, once I finished the blade, I was in need of a scabbard. I had already parted out the original cheapie scabbard to carry my screwdriver. I recalled a scene from Braveheart, where the Father and Brother of Wallace were headed off to battle the English, and the Fathers sword was not carried in a scabbard, but rather wrapped in a cloth much like a felted blanket, and wrapped with fur or twine of sorts. I then recalled a scene from Conan the Barbarian, where again, the scabbard for a blade appeared to be merely a cloth wrap twined with some binding of some sort. With that in mind I found a chunk of old polyester blanket I had once fashioned into a cloak, and wrapped that around the blade several times. The material seemed sturdy enough to safely contain the blade, and I used more scraps of the same material to bind the wrap. At that point, the scabbard was able to safely carry the blade, however once the blade was drawn, the wrapped blanket assembly flopped about so much that it was near impossible to resheathe the weapon without carefully laying the scabbard on some flat surface, and carefully feeling the blade back in. I then located a nice 3/16" x 1" Black Walnut slatting, and I slid this under the wrapping. Not only did the Walnut stiffen the scabbard enough to make it serviceable, but it looks damn fine as well.
I then used homespun "wolf fur" yarn to more securely bind the wood to the cloth assembly. A lady friend asked me to chop off some of her hair from her neck area, (hot summer, thick hair, she wanted it cut), and I kept some because it just looked freakin cool. I used a hank for decoration, as it very closely matches the Mahogany.
A very long time ago, another lady friend gifted me with a broken chain consisting of skulls in pewter linked together. I have used them in various ways over the years, have one on my chopper, gifted several away to others for this and that. In any case, I decided that this scabbard needed one of these skulls.

I am quite happy with this sword and scabbard, I still intend to rebuild my carbon battle blade, but I doubt that it will become my everyday carry weapon.

 

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