Katzbalger
Ld. Cai Dubhghlas
This project started because a good
friend, Sir Logan, decided to approach me to make him a katzbalger. Having just completed my first sword, a roman
gladius, I took him up on his request.
Nearly 2-1/2 years have passed since I have had opportunity to work on
projects of any sort with many changes in my life. But after much planning, 
designing,
thinking, sketching, debating, I finally have a sword worthy of my friend. See I have a firm belief in the notion that
if I make a something less than perfect, I keep it to myself. So if a friend needs something from me, I
must invest more than learning, but that extra effort to make something that I
would be proud of to hand to a friend and say with conviction "enjoy." After many hours of preparation, work,
finishing and fitting this is a piece worthy of a friend.
Having
looked at many historical references over the last two years on both the
internet and in books I have found the commonalities in all the pieces that
depict a Landsknecht Katzbalger. The
most significant marking to denote this type of sword is its "Figure 8" shaped cross
guard. I have found no references as to
why it was shaped in this fashion, other than this was a popular style of that
time and area as well as easily achieved with a little smithy work. The second marking would be its length. The primary Landsknecht weapon was a pike
many feet in length. Many other
Landsknecht soldiers called "Dopple soldiers" carried a great sword, useful for
cutting the shafts of pikes. But as
anyone who has studied combat in the middle ages can tell you, combat happens
at all ranges. So when an opponent got
within the useful range of the mercenary's pike, a backup was needed. This is where the length of the katzbalger
became quite handy. At between 28"-33"
long, this sword was quick and easy to draw and use in close quarters. Many people who have studied this sword
design seem to think that is even how this sword got its name. "Katze" means Cat, and "Balger" is to brawl. So it is surmised that Katzbalger means cat
fighting; close quarters kicking, clawing, and scratching so to speak with a
sword. There are other definitions and
speculations as to what its name really means, but I have not written this
document to perpetuate those discussions.
The third and final marking of note, would be its wide, usually
fullered, blade. For a sword of this
size proportion would tell us that it would have a much smaller blade in width,
however it is much more like the blade of a gladius, with obvious differences.
Here is my speculation, with some
help from research into medieval combat and weapons construction in the
classical and medieval ages. A shorter
weapon weighs less and is much more convenient to carry. Anyone who has strapped a long sword to
their side and tried sitting at a chair will know what I am referring to. This
also lends to its nature of a small circular hand guard a
nd
short grip length. The short grip
length helps keep the weapon shorter, while maximizing blade length. This is also why there is a lot more brass
or solid metal seen in the cross guards and pommels of katzbalger
proportionally to that of longer swords. This helps bring the balance point of
the weapon much closer to the hand for better maneuverability. A shorter weapon is quicker to draw and
therefore serves better for self defense.
A wide blade makes a wider, more severe cut in an opponent. The fuller helps keep the blade wide, while
keeping the weight of the weapon down.
All of these elements combine for a convenient, yet efficient and
effective form 
of
personal protection that is necessary for anyone in the mercenary profession.
Having
gone over some of the history of this piece and its uses, I am sure that you
would now like to learn how I constructed this sword. I ask you to note that this is the first blade that I have ever
forged. I did not start out making
knives, arrowheads, spears, etc. by forging.
At one time many years ago, I made a crude javelin point by forging, but
that is it. I have primarily done stock
removal, but after having forged something, I am sure that I will begin to do
many more pieces by forge work. I have
done a bit of stock removal to the blade to shape it into the final stages of
completion and to clean it up. I
started with a piece of ¼"thick x 1-1/2" wide 1095 carbon steel about 54" long,
which I cut down after forging the basic blade shape by hammer. I then hammered out a tang to about 3/4 of
the final desired length that I needed.
Having learned a valuable lesson in my first sword to not have a heat
treated tang because peening can be quite difficult of material at a high
hardness, say RC36+. I had a friend, Leif,
weld on an additional piece of softer metal to peen over. This blade has been heated and quenched some
during the forging process, but not tempered.
I then used the process of stock removal to do a bit of tempering on the
piece as I made sure to bring the piece to a deep blue coloration and then
quenched in water. I carefully used
progressive grits of 60 and 120 on the blade, polishing with a ScotchBrite
woven nylon wheel.
Next I made the cross guard for the
hilt. This is made of stock removal
from brass plate, whereas the historical counterparts would have been forged or
cast. As my skills progress as well as
my resources for these techniques, I do intend to use the former methods. I started by having a piece of 3/8" thick
brass plate water jet cut to my CAD design into the shape I drew, two serpents joined. I chose this design because of Sir 
Logan's
registered heraldry which fit the design of this sword so well. This piece took a 
lot
of time to work as well because of how careful I had to be while shaping the
material. I used a flexible shaft
rotary tool with various attachments to round the edges and to shape the
serpent heads. To polish the guard, I
used various grits of emery cloth so that I could wrap it around the parts and
get into the touch shapes of the contours.
I have attached photos showing the water jet cut part, some of the
shaping, polishing, and the final product.
The pommel was another significant piece of work. Again, this probably would have been easier if I had the piece cast, but that is not what I did. I had a friend at work lathe down the piece to the basic shape shown in the sketch, much like a door knob. I then drew on the design of the calantrava so as to mark the areas needing to be removed. I then used various rotary bits to remove carefully the sunken areas to leave a raised image of a cross calantrava. Again, the choice to use a cross like this was based upon the recipient of this piece being a Knight within the Society for Creative Anachronism in the Kingdom of Calontir. So I thought it fitting that it bear emblems of his arms and his kingdom. I had looked at many different pommels of replica katzbalger swords and it became clear to me that the shape and style of the pommel was clearly a matter of artistic license.
The final process is to fit all the pieces together to have a functional replica of a katzbalger. This process will require the making of a wooden handle to provide grip and space the pommel out from the cross guard appropriately for a person's grip as well as to balance the weapon. The handle can be simply treated, stained, wrapped in leather, covered with wire or as elaborate as carved bone if one wished. I have chosen to go with an oak base covered in red leather to further convey the motif of Sir Logan's heraldry. First I fit the tang through the cross guard, making sure that the blade sits flush atop the cross guard. Then the wooden and leather handle goes on, sliding over the tang. Next I add the pommel fitting over the flat bar part of the tang as well. This is done to keep the pommel from spinning during the peening process as well as for just keeping the integrity of the sword as strong as possible. To peen the tang over into the pommel I set up some rubber and wooden block onto the floor to absorb the shock and give a semi-solid surface that won't damage the blade. Then I grip the blade from the sides with wood on the sliding bench of my portable workbench. I then peen over the tang to cover the hole in the pommel and secure all the parts of the handle together. This was much easier this time, because as I stated earlier, I didn't heat treat the tang! The final step is to dress up the peened end of the tang to clean up the sword.
http://www.myarmoury.com/swor_lutel_13001.html Nathan Robinson Collection