The Story of Winter’s Wind :

During the endless winter the first Frost Giants descended from their icy kingdom deep in the mountains of Uhl.   The mountain’s dwarves were no match for the terrifying beasts as they left a path of death and destruction in their wake.  Few had ever bested one of the twelve foot monsters and none could stand against them when they attacked in number.  Following years of war the remaining dwarves moved deep into the mountains and remained hidden in their mines, while the giants turned their eyes to neighboring Illantul.  Fearing the same fate as their dwarven neighbors, the race of men raised one-hundred thousand gold pieces to commission the forging of a great sword.  Winter’s Wind is said to have been crafted with elven magic and endowed with the power to lay waste to the frost giants and other evil denizens of the frozen mountains of Uhl.

Actual Design and Construction:

I designed this weapon as a hand and a half sword.  The blade was produced by Hanwei forge using 5160 mar quenched spring steel.  I created the guard from a half round brass rod which I hand filed into a twisting knot pattern, annealed and bent to shape.  The spacer above the guard and the mid-handle spacer are also ground from solid brass.  The two piece wooden handle is carved from South American Purpleheart.  The pommel matches the guard’s twisted brass design with a spherical brass pommel nut. Each brass piece has been treated with a patina. There are 1/8 in hardened steel lineup pins throughout the handle design..  There is a hidden nut (covered by the pommel) on the threaded tang which secures all the handle pieces.  The pommel itself is held in place with steel pins and the tapped brass sphere,, completes the sword’s takedown design.

Specifications:

Blade length: 33. inches

Overall length: 42.5 inches

Hand grip length: 7 inches

Blade width at widest point: 1.5 inches

Guard width: 9.75 inches

Weight: 2 pounds, 10.2 ounces

Balance point: 4.5 inches in front of the guard

 Sheath Construction:

I constructed the sheath core from yellow poplar and the inside of the throat is lined with black felt to protect the blade. The wooden core is covered with 4-5 oz premium veg tan leather which I tooled with a dragon scale pattern and three interlocking skulls.  It was wet formed over the four risers and hand stitched up the back.. The bulk of the sheath is stained black with the three sections of inlaid dragon scales stained royal blue. The interlocking skulls at the top of the sheath are stained yellow and all of the tooled portions are covered with a black antiquing. The chape is formed from brass, and was produced by another artist in Spain.