Making a
Basket-Hilt Sword
This article gives instructions for making a rattan "sword" for use in SCA
heavy combat. The opinions expressed and advice or directions given are
those of the author, based on his own experience, and do not represent the
SCA or any of its branches or members other than the author himself and
don't you just hate it when people refer to themselves in the third person.
Contents of this article:
1. Shaping the Rattan
2. Taping the Blade
3. The Basket Hilt
4. Thrusting Tips
1. Shaping the Rattan
SCA swords are made of rattan, so you're going to have to find
some. You can buy nine foot staves of the stuff from Plymouth Reed
and Cane in Plymouth, MI for around twenty dollars. If you don't want
that much, you might be able to find someone who has a piece to spare.
You're going to need a piece at least three feet long for a
single-hand sword. I would recommend starting with a piece that's two
inches longer than half your height. If this seems a little long at
first, remember that you can always cut it shorter as you work with
it. If you start out with too short a piece, you're stuck. Your rattan
should be at least one and one-quarter inches in diameter; this the
minimum width allowed. At the same time, you probably don't want it
any thicker than one and a half inches, or it might find it too heavy.
If your rattan is thicker than an inch and a quarter (and it probably
will be) you'll need to shave it down on two sides. For this you'll
need either a draw knife, a spokeshave, or a Surform tool.
Of the three, the draw knife is the best choice and the hardest to
find. A draw knife is a straight blade eight to ten inches long with a
handle at both ends, and is used by drawing it toward you along the
rattan. The spokeshave works the same way, but is smaller (a two inch
blade), cheaper, and easier to find. Surform tools are easy to find
and not too expensive, and work very well for shaping rattan. Surform
tools come in several different styles (some of which would be useful
when you shape the grip later), but the one you want to shave the
blade resembles a block plane and has a flat rasp-like blade on the
bottom. You use it like a plane, pushing it away from you along the
rattan. You can use a block plane, if that's what you have, but I
haven't found them very good for working rattan.
If you have access to power tools, you can also use a hand-held belt
sander if you know how. Don't try to use any power tool you're not
familiar with. I've also tried using stationary belt and disk sanders,
but with limited success.
If you've nothing else, you can use a pocket knife. At Pennsic one
year, I made a sword with only the tools on my Swiss Army Knife.
Clamp the rattan in a vise or use C-clamps to secure it to a workbench
while you shape it. Check the thickness frequently to be sure you're
not removing too much. The shaved surfaces will be the "flat" of the
"blade." Don't shave the husk off the "edge," as this will shorten the
life of your blade. (This is why I recommend using heavier "unpeeled"
rattan with the husk intact, rather that the "peeled" kind which is
lighter. If you do decide to use "peeled" rattan, I'd put a couple of
strips of Strapping tape along the full length of the cutting edges
before I did any other taping.)
The "tip" end of your rattan should be rounded off at the cut edges.
(Sharp corners, even covered with tape, can hurt your opponent.) I'd
do this with sandpaper, but you can use whatever tool you used to
shape the blade. If you are planning on adding a thrusting tip now or
later, don't make the entire end of the stick round. (See the
information on thrusting tips later in this article.)
Slip the basket hilt on the sword and mark where you're going to shape
the grip.(1) Shaping the grip can be tricky. Use a rasp or a round
Surform tool to shape the grip to fit your hand, but try not to remove
more material than is necessary. Use a medium grit sandpaper to finish
the grip. Note: I'd leave a couple of inches of rattan below the
basket hilt (at the "pommel end") in case you need to adjust the
balance of the sword. More on this later.
At this point, you should cut the blade to its final length. To find
that length, hold the sword by the grip and stand up straight. Hold
the sword point down, parallel with your leg. The tip of the rattan
should just clear the floor.
2. Taping the Blade
You'll need three kinds of tape for the blade; strapping tape and
cloth duct tape for the blade itself, and a strip of contrasting
tape for the edges. Strapping tape comes in several widths; for this
job, the wider the better. Unfortunately, the wide size usually comes
in small rolls. One of these should be enough, though. Start with the
strapping tape. Beginning at the top of the grip, spiral-wrap the
entire blade. Then, starting from the tip, spiral wrap in the opposite
direction down to the grip.
I usually save the duct tape until I've got the hilt on, but you can
do it now if you like unless you're planning to use a thrusting tip on
your sword. (More on thrusting tips at the end of this article.) What
you need to do is to tape along the length of the blade with Duct
tape. Start at the hilt (or just above where the hilt will attach) and
tape along the edges of the blade first, all the way to the end of the
ratan then ovet the tip and back along the other edge to the hilt.
Then do the same to the sides od the blade. Try to keep the tape as
smooth as possible while you are doing this.
If you started with a stick that was already one and a quarter inches
around, then you didn't shave the sides (I hope). So you'll need to
mark the striking edges with a strip of contrasting tape. Electrical
tape works well for this. If you had to shave the sides down, it's
still a good idea to do so. (Actually, I think the rules in the
Midrealm and most other Kingdoms now require you to do so on all
swords.)
3. The Basket Hilt
To make a basket-hilt sword, you're going to need a basket hilt.
These are usually made of either welded steel rod or riveted steel
plate. They are sometimes available for purchase at events, or you
might find someone who could make you one. You can even make a riveted
plate basket hilt yourself. It's a good way to learn the metal-working
skills you'll need for more advanced armoring projects. Many people
have patterns for this kind of hilt.
Making a basket hilt out of welded steel rod is obviously a more
advanced project requiring access to and experience using welding
equipment. Welded hilts tend to be much heavier than sheet steel ones,
but much less prone to denting. Just the same, when a welded rod hilt
needs repair, it usually means rewelding something. The only repair
I've ever had to do to a sheet metal hilt has been to put it over a
ball stake once every year or two and remove the dents. A few minutes'
work, at worst.
The plates on a sheet steel hilt should be 16 or 17 guage mild steel,
cold-or hot-rolled. 14 guage will dent less, but will be noticably
heavier. Welded hilts should have bars 1/4" thick; less isn't enough
protrction, and more will likely be too heavy.
Your wrist will need to be protected; if your basket hilt dosen't do
it, you' have to wear a half-gauntlet. One way around this is to
attach a padded leather cuff to the hilt itself (I've done this). I've
also seen Kydex or steel cuffs laced onto basket hilts.
Basket hilts are made to attach to swords in several ways. Some are
fastened with screw clamps (sometimes erroneously called muffler
clamps), some with wood screws, and some with a bolt or rivet through
the rattan. Screw clamps are quick and easy, but can slip off or
break. Wood screws can pull out, bend, and break. Bolts and rivets
require a hole drilled through the rattan, weakening it at that point.
And they break.
The point I'm trying to make is that there really isn't a good way to
do this. Use whatever method your basket hilt was designed to accept,
and be happy.
If your hilt is made for screw clamps, it will have metal tabs top and
bottom to clamp to the rattan. Make sure that the tabs don't have
sharp edges that could shear through the clamp; file them down if they
do. It's a good idea to flair the end of the tab slightly, to keep the
clamp from slipping off the hilt. Wrap the screw clamps in a few
layers of duct tape. Remember to check the clamps now and then to make
sure they haven't broken.
My own basket hilts are held on by screw clamps, but I've drilled a
hole in the bottom tab for a small wood screw. This helps to keep the
whole hilt from slipping down toward the pommel as it gets pounded.
"Real" swords almost always had a pommel, a weighted knob at the hilt
end to help balance the sword. I usually adjust the balance by leaving
the rattan 2" long below the basket, then either trimming the rattan
back to lessen the "pommel weight" ot wrapping duct tape around it add
weight. Some people screw a threaded galvanized pipe cap on to the
rattan as a pommel; I did this myself on my bastard sword and my great
sword. For your first sword, just leave the rattan a couple of inches
long at the end and adjust the balance if you need to after you've
used it a few times.
4. Thrusting Tips
A thrusting tip is a construction of closed-cell foam at the
business end of your sword. If your sword dosen't have one, you
are not allowed to thrust! Thrusting also requires a separate
authorization. I'd recommend going without a thrusting tip for the
time being, but if you just can't live without one here's how to make
it. This isn't the only way to make a thrusting tip, of course, but
it's the method I use and it has worked well for me so far.
You should do this before you duct tape the blade, but you can always
strip of the duct tape and do it later. (You also might want to check
the requirements for thrusting tips in your home Kingdom, and modify
this proceedure if necessary to conform to your Kingdom law.)
What you're going to do is stack disks of closed cell foam onto the
end of your sword. You're going to need some closed cell foam at least
a quarter inch thick (half inch is better, if you can find it), and
strapping tape either three quarters or one inch wide.
Cut the foam into circles about two inches in diameter, enough of them
to stack at least two and a half inches high. Cut a piece of 3/4" or
1" strapping tape about six inches long and tape across one disk onto
the end of the rattan. (Don't tape the foam down too tight.) Do the
same for the next disk, but tape it at a right angle from the first.
Keep doing this until you run out of disks. Use two pieces of tape
across the top disk.
Grab your strapping tape again. Starting about one inch below where
the rattan ends and the foam begins, spiral-wrap the thrusting tip out
to about half its length. (Again, not too tight.) This will help keep
the thrusting tip from bending over upon impact.
Cover the thrusting tip with duct tape, the same as the rest of the
blade. If at all possible (especially if you're new to this) have a
Marshal check your tip before you duct tape it.
Try not to forget that the purpose of a thrusting tip isn't to protect
your sword, but to protect your opponent. I recall one
fighter-in-training asking my opinion of the rattan sword he'd just
made. The thrusting tip was near as rigid as the rattan
underneath; the thing wouldn't give a quarter inch. "The marshals will
never pass this tip," I told him.
"Oh, come on," he protested, "I can't believe they'd say this was too
soft!"
I couldn't believe it, either. |