Spanish 1728 Sword and hilt WIP

Completed copy of the M1728 Spanish sword in the collection of the Arizona Historical Society. These swords were a common sight throughout the Spanish interior of the American southwest throughout the 18th and into the 19th century. This is the fourth sword of this type I have made, the second with the great help of Copperrein.

Not liking to repeat myself, each time I get to remake a project I try something new. This project was no exception and luckily for you I documented the processes.

I started by laying out the design of the hilt on a 1/2 x 1 inch bar of mild steel. Notice the slight angle I have given the quillion block in the layout, this will be straightened as the quillions are opened at the forge.

Here I have sawn away all the extra material, slit between each of the quillions, and trimmed everything to length. The block's angle compared to the original bar is still apparent.

Time to fire up the forge and open this up!

First heat straightened the angle of the block aligning the quillions on either side to match. Every time I have done one of these hilts I have had trouble getting the corresponding quillions to line up correctly, but this little angle in initial layout seams to have solved all my past issues!

Each heat opens the hilt and further refines the shape. I will leave the quillions heavy to allow myself to grind/file them to finished dimensions. Once everything is filed out it looks like this:

Now I fit the pass-guard block in preparation for riveting the bilbo shell guard, complete the grip and pommel, and finial assembly