Repairs and fixes

There will be fencing tonight.  My gear is not where I want it as detailed a little bit yesterday.  With work being light this afternoon, I took a few minutes to go down to the shop to make some fixes.

First up, I swapped the grip from my 30" blade onto the new primary.  This meant I did not have a handle on the 30".  But I had an extra handle though it would not fit, due to the 30" having a wide tang.  So I tried to file it down from the inside using a set of needle files.  That was not working, so I broke out the power tools.  I found the width I needed (1/2") and made a mark with painters tape on the shank of the drill so I would not go too deep with it.  If my drill press had a longer throw, I would have used that, but alas, I used a cordless drill.  Test fitting the newly drilled handle it still didn't fit just right, so I used a 3/8" bit to create a little more room at the shoulder.  Once that was done, I needed to cut down the handle to size, so to the chop saw I went.  Test fitting again, and I needed to used a few leather spacers to get the fit just right.  I'm not satisfied with the grip as its perfectly round and I prefer a more oval grip, so after work, I'm going to break out the new sander I just picked up over lunch and work on that.  

Next up was fitting a better handle to the new dagger I just got.  I broke out the new tap and die set and proceeded to cut new threads in the tang so that I could mount a shorter grip on the dagger.  It was easier work than I expected.  Then it was measure the grip and cut the tang.  I used a large bolt cutter to cut the tang.  I then beveled the new end on my grinder and tapped the end again to clean up the thread alignment.  As I left the tang a bit long for the intended pommel, I had to cut, grind, and tap the tang one more time.  Almost perfect, I used a leather washer between the pommel and grip to make up for any slop.

I taped a new tip onto the new 38" blade.  I also took all the tape off the 30" blade and was going to tape a new tip on.  When I took the tip off, the washer I had in there came out in two pieces.  I am not sure how long ago the washer split, but the tip was in good condition, so I put a new washer in and taped it on.

For sanding down the sides of the grip, I figure I am going to use a clamp from both ends of the grip so that way my fingers will not be near the sanding surface.  Then it will just be flip the grip in the clamp and sand the other side.  A little finish sanding and I think it should be good to go.