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This Old Salle: Building a Serviceable Smallsword
by W. Kevin Dougherty
After several attempts to purchase a quality, correct fighting arm appropriate for fencing, I built a number of 1750s-era smallswords using hilt parts cast from originals. The quality is excellent, the price is modest, and the work relatively easy.
I wanted a sword that not only had the correct balance and feel, but that was aesthetically pleasing as well as stout enough to hold up to repeated hard use. Unfortunately, fencing supply houses thought a "smallsword" was a child's foil; custom cutlers either catered to the SCA and fantasy crowd; and theatrical weapons were best viewed from the 10th row of a darkened theater. Therefore, I decided to have a go at it myself. Since I also build accurate 18th century reproduction rifles and fusils (1720s-1790s), I was used to searching for obscure materials. Through the years I have developed contacts with a number of good suppliers of quality castings of butt plates, thimbles, lock plates, etc. taken from original guns. After a few phone calls, I had what I needed. The Rifle Shop (TRS) of Jones, Oklahoma (phone 405-396-2583; Fax 405-396-8450) was making castings of a number of different sword hilts. Their item was taken from a French smallsword circa 1750 and cast in either steel or yellow brass. I ordered the brass, and in a few weeks received two sets of guard, knucklebow, pommel and handle castings that were an almost identical match to a period piece in my collection. I ordered two sets because building a second weapon is no more difficult than building one, and it's hard to get anyone else to play with you unless they've found a good smallsword already.
To begin assembly, a few tools are needed. A drill, a small selection of files (half round and flat), an appropriate sized tap, and a hacksaw are the basic ones; a drill press and a vise are nice but not a necessity. I use Prieur double-wide epee blades with a 12/24 thread size as a standard, but I have also used others with metric thread. The reason I settled on the Prieur blade is the consistency of shape and degree of finish.
In its short form, the assembly process is:
1. Inspect the castings
2. Cut casting gates from the pieces
3. File the cuts smooth and even with the surfaces of the parts
4. Drill and tap the pommel
5. Polish the castings and blade
6. Assemble the hilt
7. Make the handle
8. Cut the tang to length
9. Mount the blade and adjust the handle and hilt to suit
1. Inspect the castings: These parts are investment-cast so, overall, the finish is good. A few flaws may show up if the mold was too hot or cold, such as what appear to be wrinkles or waves on the surface of the material. If not too severe, these can be polished out. Dark spots on the brass should be looked at carefully, as they may be carbon or slag inclusions. These weak spots could be a problem at bow, quillons, or pas d'ane, where the delicate shapes are already thin. One piece I had collected a few years ago was missing the knuckle bow and quillons, but finished off so nicely that I've built one to match it after one of those weak spots showed up in some parts I was working on. If a defect is severe enough to make the part unusable, TRS has been very good about exchanging anything that the customer feels is unsatisfactory.
2. Cut casting gates from the pieces: This is an area where you should take care. The casting gates are the spues, or channels the molten brass flows through into the mold. They are typically about 1/8" thick by 3/8" wide. These should be cut off with a hacksaw as close to the part as possible, but without cutting into it. Care should be taken not to trim off the protrusion at the end of the knuckle bow, as it will later be used in mounting the sword. Keep in mind that whatever you don't cut off with the saw has to be filed off later, and what you cut off now doesn't go back on gracefully.
3. File the cuts smooth and even with the surfaces of the parts: Finesse and patience are required at this step. A fine file makes a smoother cut, but is slower than a coarse file. Be patient. Use a fine file. Take your time and carefully blend in the rough surfaces left by the hacksaw. When you've removed the excess stock, you can then begin to polish out any mold marks or surface flaws. As with the saw, parts that you remove accidentally don't go back on gracefully, but the file is more controllable than the hacksaw, since it removes material at a much slower rate. Try and lift the file off the surface on the pull stroke and apply gentle pressure on the push stroke.
4. Drill and tap the pommel: This is the easiest part of the process. There is a dimple on the bottom of the pommel, where the original tang was. I put tape around a drill bit to mark the maximum depth to be drilled (almost but not quite through the pommel) and had at it. It helps to have someone standing to the side to check your alignment as you drill. The hole should be centered and straight.
The next hole you have to drill is where the knucklebow joins the pommel. You'll know where this is, since there's also a dimple there. This gets drilled about 1/2" deep and at a slight upward angle, in order to help lock the bow in place. The tip of the bow should have a protrusion about 1/8" diameter by 3/8" long; this is what fits in that hole.
Now tap the base hole to match your blade tang. Be careful not to tap too deeply--a broken tap is damn near impossible to remove. Again, take your time, be patient, and every turn or two back the tap up to break the cuttings free.
5: Polish the castings and blade: This is a matter of taste. How much polishing you do is really up to you. You can achieve a mirror polish that will blind your opponent and cause great hilt envy among your peers, or you can give it a more historically accurate burnishing or light polish with files, sandpaper, steel wool etc. Just remember that polishing is basically making finer and finer surface scratches till you blend them all in to what appears a smooth surface. The matter of "polishing the blade" can be left out if you intend to use the blade "as received." I prefer to give the blade a blued finish. This is done with a product called "Cold Blue, " manufactured by Birchwood Casey, which is used to touch up or finish gun parts in that distinctive blue-black color. It also helps to prevent rust and discoloration and just generally looks cool.
The most important part of blade prep for this coloring is degreasing. A good wiping with rubbing alcohol to remove fingerprints and lubricants is sufficient. The Cold Blue is then applied with a clean cloth and reapplied until the desired depth of color is achieved. After it dries, a rub with a clean cloth and a light coat of oil will finish it up.
6. Assemble the hilt: Once you polish the hilt pieces, the guard can be attached to the ricasso. The original piece was held together with a press fit and compression between the blade and ricasso, and the DW blade is almost wide enough to make this happen, but the parts must be filed and fit perfectly. I have taken to sodering the guard to the ricasso with a low temperature silver solder. I clamp the ricasso/ bow assembly in a vise (bottom up) and place the guard over it. When the heat is applied (about 400 degrees), the solder will flow around the male & female fittings at the guard's base. With this complete, a measurement can now be taken from the top of the ricasso to the nub at the end of the bow. This will tell you approximately where the bottom of pommel will be and how long to make the handle.
7. Make the handle: The company that sells the hilt castings also sells a brass handle. However, I've found that it adds too much weight to the sword, so I order my parts minus the handle and fashion my own from a variety of materials. This is where you can be artistic or stoically functional. The handle is both functional and decorative, so what works and looks good are the rules for designing it. My favorite is wood base, with a leather covering and a spiral wrap of twisted brass wire spaced about 1/2" between wraps. The wood is easy to shape with files to the desired profile, and can be easily sized for a comfortable grip. The center hole is usually drilled first, so that if it comes out off center I can shape to suit or throw it out and start over.
The leather covering should be very thin and applied to the wood after soaking the leather in warm water long enough to allow it to stretch and form to the wood without wrinkling. It is then set aside to dry and shrink-fit to the wood. If it is being wrapped with a twisted wire, the wire can be used to hold it in place, or else the whole assembly can be wrapped tightly with cloth until it's dry. I've also been cutting a groove in the wood base for the wire to recess into with the corner of a file before I wrap with leather.
The twisted brass wire is available from most automobile windshield repair shops. They use it as a flexible saw to help cut windshields loose, and it comes in 100 ft spools. A full wire wrap can be done with the same material, but I haven't figured out yet how to finish the ends properly. When I do my handles with a wire wrap, I drill a diagonal hole 1/16" through the ends of the wood/leather assembly, almost to the center hole, and then poke the ends of the wire through so that when the pommel is screwed tight, it captures the wire ends at ricasso and pommel. Other suitable materials to choose from would include bone, antler, decorative wood, or any other material that can be shaped and provide a secure and attractive grip.
8. Cut the tang to length: Now that the hilt is assembled and the handle is made, the tang length can be arrived at by placing the hilt on the blade, the handle on the tang, and marking the correct length on the tang. At least 1/2" of tang should be able to thread into the pommel. Make this cut square and clean up any burrs with the file.
9. Mount the blade and adjust the handle and hilt to suit: Now it's time to make a sword! The final fitting of parts is made up of minute adjustments, brute force, and clever bits of shimming. When the pommel is tightened down to the handle, it should be about one-quarter to one-half turn from aligning properly (that is the point where the bow nub is aligned with the side pommel hole). If you're that close, carefully grasp the pommel with pliers (after covering it with a protective layer of leather), turn the pommel until everything aligns, and insert the bow nub into the pommel hole. If your more than one half turn away, you will need to take the handle off and either file the pommel flat or handle to remove enough material to get that half-turn distance correct. Remember that this is not a lot of material to be removed. One screw thread equals one turn and a 12/24 thread has 24 threads to the inch, so you are removing 1/64"-1/32" or less. The reason you want that half-turn is so the handle is on tight and will not roll. The extra half-turn compresses the wood fibers enough to accomplish this. I've also inserted a leather "washer" between the blade and guard to tighten up a blade that worked loose in a weapon with a soft wood (black walnut) handle that had compressed too much.
Domenico Angelo's The School of Fencing has excellent, short, introductory chapters. "The Method of Mounting a Sword" & "How to Chuse a Blade and it's Proper Length." A look at some original smallswords will show that personal style and taste dictated the final character of each weapon. When one considers that these were carried by gentlemen as a fashionable adornment as much, if not more, than a personal defense weapon, their decorative aspects make sense. However, please do not assume that this in any way minimizes their abilities to be used as an efficient killing tool. Smallswords, much like the 18th century flintlock, were working tools that were treated with great care and pride by their owners. Both became the perfect medium to show what superb taste and wealth its owner had. Smallswords incorporated exotic materials, elaborate engraving, and superior craftsmanship while still maintaining a sturdy functional form with gracefully flowing lines, fine balance, and delicate beauty--without losing their ability too kill with grace and precision. Ain't being civilized great?!