The Blade of the California Sword (Quick Post)

1/19/2016

Several people have asked me over the last few days to post some full length images of the California sword and a picture of the blade. Here you go. Nothing fancy - I just set it down on my desk and took a couple of shots.

I also used the 3D model of the sword to generate a cross section of the fullered section of the blade. I'm still learning how to use the software (as well as the scanner), but you can orient the model in a box and then have it generate splines that section the object wherever you want. I'm working with raw data, so the model still has "holes" in it (hence the incomplete blade edges on the extracted splines. But I think you can still get a pretty good sense of the contours of the fullers.

Screen shot showing model oriented in box and placement of splines to be extracted (green lines) across fullered portion of blade.

Screen shot showing extracted splines superimposed on 3D model.

Screen shot showing fuller contours highlighted by extracted splines (green lines).

Screen shot showing splines extracted from fullered portion of blade.

3 Comments

Darren Beck

1/19/2016 03:12:28 pm

Thanks any, im still trying to find where this sword came from, im heading down to the British museum over the weekend to see if i can find anything similar to this, i have also e-mailed a few other museums round here to get their opinion, i'll leave a post once they get back to me

Jonathan Feinstein

1/19/2016 05:26:04 pm

I still want to know where this artifact came from too.

One observation that I hope may help with inquiries. Andy has pointed out the fullered section and the new scans are great. I think he also said it looked like the original may have been broken and repaired with the flat blade and I have to agree,

From the pictures it looks like the hilt had been attached to a fullered blade had broken. It does not look like a straight break, the central rib is sorter than those on the edges, so it is possible that someone took an original and created a mold, either using a flat blade to complete the length or maybe just carved it out that way. The mold for the CA sword may have been a steel blade on the fullered section, but could have been wood or almost anything else on the flat section, or nothing at all, just sword-shaped cavity where the rest of the blade would be cast.

I also think the original blade , the fullered part that is, was forged, not cast, and so was likely made of steel. SO what should we (you) be looking for?

The original, wherever it is, if it still exists, is probably a hilt attached to a broken blade (if the hilt was not later removed from the fullered blade fragment). If so, the broken sword might not be on public display any longer and may well be in a drawer in a museum archive. If you can, try asking to see items not on display. You might not be able to get there, but it is worth asking.

The Hilt? It might be brass, but it might also be wood, bone or ivory or some other material. It could be made of anything or a combination of materials.

Good hunting!

Darren Beck

1/19/2016 07:49:40 pm

I wont be able to stop looking until i find out where it first came from now, i agree that it isn't a full sword we are looking for and for the past couple of days i have been searching for broken blades or just hilts that have been recovered but with little success, most of my research has been done online or over the phone and i am looking forward to spending a weekend going through the museums and such to see if i can find anything and will take your advice and see if i can get access to their archives

The Blade of the California Sword (Quick Post)

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