Scottish-Style Basket Hilted Sword
A Custom Piece made by a Scottish Smith Specializing in Japanese-Style Swords

Article by Adrian Ko. Photographs courtesy of Thomas MacDonald.

One of our readers, Thomas McDonald, recently commissioned Randal Graham of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada (relocating to Nova Scotia, Canada this October) for a one-of-a-kind Scottish-style basket-hilted sword. Somehow over the telephone conversations in discussing the desired a bond formed between McDonald and the master-level maker of Japanese-style swords, himself of deep Scottish roots. Out of that bond sparked a spirit of creativity, even though the sword was well beneath the price range normally commanded by Graham's acclaimed high-performance Japanese-style art swords.

For Graham, it was a pleasurable return to his Scottish roots, despite the goal of creating a US$600 for his customer who requested a low maintenance sword design for performance more than aesthetics. McDonald got more than what he bargained for, as the sword has elements associated with pieces that normally command higher prices. The sword emerged from Dragon Fist Forge with a differentially heat treated blade with a textured spine, with a basket forged from antique iron.

Graham selected and forged AISI 1084 steel (approximately 0.84% - a high carbon steel) for the blade. "I chose 1084 because I wanted to go for more toughness for this sword, as it has a lower carbon level than the W1 steel I normally use."

Metallurgically speaking, 1084 has its own advantages which can be drawn upon from excellent heat treating. "1084 has a bit more manganese than usual, which helps with the deep hardening with the heat treat I gave it." The blade interestingly is differentially heat treated - with a significantly harder edge and a softer body. (Differential heat treatment is something the ancient Japanese smiths achieved in their swords by using clay to coat the body of their blades so that in the quenching waters the edge would quench faster than the body and thus become harder - for cutting ability and edge-retention - while the body would cool to a slightly softer state - for impact absorption and shock tolerance.)

However, the differential hardening done here was done differently. Graham used oil instead of water to quench the sword blade in during the final heat treatment because oil is a gentler and slower quenching medium. By carefully controlling the temperature of the oil as well as the heated blade, Graham achieved differential hardening: as the edges are dimensionally thiner than the body of the blade, these were the first to cool to form a harder martensitic crystaline structure, giving the sword its harder edges. The body of the blade cooling slower formed a softer pearlitic crystaline stucture, giving the sword its softer and tougher body, and its ability to endure high degrees of stress.

This was carefully achieved without using a clay application like that used by Japanese smiths. "I did use clay, but not for the differential hardening, but rather to keep the scale off the blade." Because of the interaction between steel and oil, oxides can develop which can result in a darkening of the blade surface. A thin clay application protected the blade from such environmental factors during the final heat-treat and quenching process.

"The edge turned out to be screaming hard, even without clay!" beams Graham, as if satisfied with what he considered a small challenge.

A closer look at the basket itself reveals that the workmanship is beyond merely welding sheet metal together and forging it out. You will notice that certain parts have a carat ("^") shape to it, which is beyond ordinary metal sheets. "For the basket hilt," Randal Graham relates, "I went to an old antique anchor which is made of wrought iron, and I section it, forged individual pieces, then forged it as a whole." Though the basket hilt has an older and more rustic appearance, Randal states that it was not patterned after any historical precident. "After Thomas and I discussed it, I wanted it to be kinda different - totally off the cuff - so it wouldn't appear like everyone else's." The forging texture of the basket can also be plainly seen in the photo, right.

For purposes of simplicity, Graham used hemp to wrap the grip, then impregnated it with epoxy, as McDonald requested a handle that did not require a lot of maintenance. Returning our attention to the blade, to reinforce the rustic appearance of the basket, Graham gave the spine a "fresh-off the anvil" appearance while polishing the flats of the blade. "This is going to be our signature finish whenever we do European style swords," says Graham, who enjoys doing things differently than normal. One interesting design concept is the narrowing of the blade shoulder as the tang of the blade enters the hilt. While critics of this design observing it from a face-down perspective argue that this makes the blade structurally weaker, the contrary in this case is true. "The blade here actually thickens out to 3/8ths of an inch. The tang is that thick as well. This is actually a strong part of the blade."

In addition, the thicker ricasso and tang help to counterbalance the 2.5-2.75 lb. sword. "It balances really nice - it's a head crusher!"

Finaly, perhaps the true value of the sword is not so much that the work put into it exceeds the price for which it was purchased, but that it is indeed a uniquely individual sword, sparked out of a Scottish spirit between sword maker and one who would cherish it. "It's a one-of-a-kind piece," Graham concludes. "And because of that, I don't think I'll make one like that ever again."

Editor's Note

We are both proud and honored to have Randal Graham as our regular featured writer of the SFMO column "Sword Shop" which details the step-by-step process of forging from steel to sword. We wish Randal and Mikey (his shop buddy) safe journey to Nova Scotia and eagerly await his new article on building a shop and forge from the ground up - an SFMO exclusive!

Contact Information

Randal Graham
Dragon Fist Forge
Note: Address changing due to move to Nova Scotia.

Click here for Dragon Fist Forge's website.

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