We at The Black Hand Armoury use the best materials to make our blades, using only Fair Trade suppliers so you know that your fine kit is supplied with a clear conscience.

Here�s how our swords are made;

First of all I start off with a railway bolt; this is fine EN45 steel recycled from the famous British Rail, also used for larger swords are leaf springs from reclamation yards, preferably old Landrover springs as they seem to last forever and make fine, strong blades.

After this I send the raw materials over to a mad Irishman who lives on the Emerald Isle, he listens to heavy metal and puts the metal through a foundry where he melts it down, adds a few choice ingredients and then rolls out and folds the steel seventy times, which densifies the metal, making it tougher, stronger and more resilient. This process turns the steel into EN47 or CM370 spring steel, and arrives back to me in small manageable bars ready for me to work with.  These I polish up before they go onto the forge so that the finished blades are clean and there are no imperfections in the hammered-out blades.

I then take a hammer, anvil and forge; then heat up the metal bars and hit them lots and lots of times whilst listening to a wide variety of loud music (Iron Maiden, Rammstein, System of a Down and Disturbed feature heavily, as well as Joni Mitchell) and often sipping Guinness.  The blades are heated using a forge (in which coke burns at a temperature of about 1250 degrees Celcius) until the metal goes orangey-yellow, at which point the metal is ready to be formed into shape.

(more pictures of the actual production and tempering of the blades coming soon)

The steel is then hammered into a blade shape, adding a fuller if necessary, then a variety of cutters and sanding wheels are used to clean up the blade; during this process it is carefully examined for any flaws or weaknesses.  If any are found the steel is usually recycled into short swords or daggers.  The blade at this point is called a blank.

Before the blank is made, I take a number of measurements from the customer and work out what weight, length and size of blade is needed. This means that each sword is specifically tailored to the customer's size, weight and fighting style which maximises their fighting potential and gives them that certain edge in combat.

Having checked the quality of the sword blade I then use a number of tempering techniques; this involves heating the steel up to the correct temperatures and quenching it in oil and water to give separate parts of the blade the properties required of them.  The inside needs to be springy and flexible so that the blade doesn't snap or shatter, whereas the outside of the blade has to be hard and strong so that it won't chip or burr during combat; for live blades this also gives them a sharp lasting edge.  This is done by heating the blade with an industrial torch and quenching the centre of the blades in ionised oil three times for the springiness and quenching the edges of the blade in slightly cool water with a few extra ingredients in it for the hard edge.  This process can take longer than the actual hammering out of the swords at times and is an exacting task; photos will be available soon.

At this point the sword is clearly taking shape.  I now use hammer and anvil to hammer in the edge of the sword, which is a process called work-hardening; this is the last stage of tempering and improving the qualities of the steel.

I add a cross-piece and hollow pommel, in this case a wheel pommel which is a circular band of steel. The end of the sword tang, (the inside of the grip) goes through two holes, and rounds about the bottom securing the blade firmly.

Most blades are unwieldy due to over-heavy pommels, or ones that are too light to counterbalance the blade.  To rectify this and balance the sword I take a number of pewter tankards...

...and melt them down to pour into the hollow pommel, balancing the blade and securing the pommel completely.

Finally the pommel is ground into shape, and weighted to match the customer's needs; the grip is bound, often in leather as I have found this to be the most comfortable and is historically accurate for all periods (I know someone is gonna send me an email saying 'not at such and such a date!'), and the sword is nearly finished!

A round of polishing, testing, and quality control follows this, until the sword is ready for the prized customer, I use three different polishing techniques on each bade, each one getting gradually finer to get a better finish,

Then finally the prized and wonderful sword is finished, and I've gotten attached to it, then some bloody re-enactor comes along and takes it away!!! and all I'm left with is a pile of little bits of paper which I turn into more steel and more Guinness.

Additional info on steel processes and techniques can be found here if you're interested;

http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/5/chemistry/steel/steelch2pg3.html