Also some images of another just completed project...a dagger in the anglo-saxon style...the blade is from the much missed Mishka...pattern welded, and of his usual amazing quality...rest in peace, dude.
the hilt is of the typicasl composite construction of the period, cast silver plates sandwiching wooden cores for the guards...filigree silver plate overlay...also "clips" on the grip, fabricated sheet, with sweated filigree spirals and beads...the scabbard elements cast, with the filigree decoration applied...and then the garnet inlay...A technique I have always wished to attempt, was quite intimidated...I chose to pierce the grid, although it appears that in period these were fabricated...I just felt more facile with the saw...fine silver, 2mm thick...the pommel fabricated from sheet, embellished with wire and shot...an associate of mine, John Cushing, had a good stash of garnet rough on hand, and I'm very grateful for his polishing of the exterior faces...once I had got the garnet from John, I super glued the stones, polish down on a brass platen and used a diamond lap wheel to reduce the stones to the correct thickness...tacking them to a reasonable polish
each stone was then epoxy glued to a nail head...don't use superglue, not so super, and the stones ground using diamond wheels to fit in the cells...Transfering the cel perimeter to the stone was a little problematic...what worked well was to paint the stone with Chinese white, and trace around the interior of the cell with a finely sharpened hard pencil...this was before the pierced cell grid was soldered to the baseplate...but, actually, it was not so hard to cut the stones to fit from the front, once the grid had been soldered down to the faceplate...keep the speed slow, cut dry, use the different radius cutters to your advantage...also, cut thru the nailhead as well as the stone...especially with the smaller bits, the shear pressure on the stone tends to make it break off...but if you cut thru the nailhead as well, this lessens the shear pressure.
Once fit, each stone was glued in place with epoxy...not too period, I know, but convenient...when I do this again, I certainly will grind all the stones to be slightly thicker than the piercework panel...then use the wet sander, and polishers to finish the stones in place...as it was, some were too thin, which required alot of grinding
the center quatrefoil in each face was a little too big for the stones available, so they are composites of two stones, cut with a straight mating edge
I'm quite happy with the results...I think I pushed all my technical abilities ti the immediate edge with this one...and the design pleases me as well...for me it has the correct feel, something from a market in Kabul, maybe, it just feels old, and good in the hand...Pat
