I bought a separate sword blade at Friendship in the late 70's, that had never been mounted. It was double edged and sort of a flat topped curve on both sides. However, it was too short to be a crusader sword and it was heavily pitted all over the surface. Now since it was only $ 8.00, I couldn't resist, even if it was not hardened/tempered, though I later learned it was. I figured I could make a crude American AWI cutlass out of it and wear it with my Continental Marine Sergeant Impression. Had to wait a couple/few years until I returned to the Shop at Quantico to do it, as I didn't want to try making it in my spare bedroom "shop" at home.
Long story short, when I returned to Quantico, I got involved with the C.S. Marine Corps reenactors, so the sword blade waited another year or so until I was promoted to Sergeant of C.S. Marines. Since Sergeants sometimes carried cutlasses and a pistol on watch, it was time to dig out the blade and see what I could do with it.
Well, that blade could only realistically make a "local/possibly blacksmith made" cutlass, because of the blade shape. So I decided to make it into sort of like a home made, American War of 1812 cutlass, especially as I could not grind out all of the deepest pitting. I decided to use 3/16" brass plate for the guard, as there was a left over piece of it in the shop the machinists didn't need. I figured out how to make the pattern by using ratio's of blade and grip lengths from pictures and from some measurements I took of original swords, for a "D" guard pattern grip.
I decided to use white Oak for the grip and rough formed that first to fit my hand and in a similar manner to the grips of War of 1812 sword grips. I drilled pilot holes in the grip from both ends of a diameter a bit thinner than the thickness of the tang. I heated the rear of the tang with an oxy/acetylene torch while holding the front part of the tang in a large vise to act as a heat sink. I only heated about half the rear of the tang at first and burned the tang that far into the grip when it was hot. (Later on I learned it would have been better to burn the tang into the grip BEFORE I finish formed it.) Since I was careful when I held the grip and forced it down over the tang as far as it would go, the hole went in the center where I wanted it to go. So with additional heats and burning, I had a good tight fit of the wood grip to the tang.
That helped me in part to design how long the grip should be when I included how far I wanted the guard to go above the top of the blade and into a "D" shape that would fit the grip and clearance for my hand.
I deliberately left the pattern long in the rear, as I was not sure how to figure the length through all the curved and fairly straight side around the grip. I had marked the center line for the front hole through which the blade passed. BEFORE I began bending the plate, I drilled and carefully filed out that hole to probably a much tighter fit than many original swords I had seen.
Once the hole was a good fit on the tang, I heated the brass with an oxy/acetylene torch to anneal it and let it cool overnight before beginning bending it to the "D" shape in a vise and by hammer blows of a large brass hammer, a huge ball pein hammer and or a good size one hand maul I had purchased used to drive in my tent stakes. I was surprised that with care, I did not ding up the metal too bad. I decided not to file/polish the few hammer marks out, as that probably would not have been done on a home made cutlass.
As I got the bend close to correct, I put the grip on with it and could mark where the rear hole for the tang had to go. This was where I was REALLY glad I had left the rear of the Guard overly long, as I held the rear of the grip in the vise to drill/file out the rear hole in the guard.
Though many crude swords and cutlasses did not have one, I decided to make a thick leather oval washer that went between the blade and the front of the guard. I made a few paper patterns till I got the shape I wanted, then cut it out of some 8-9 oz leather I had. I cut the hole in it to clear the tang and fitted it to the front of the tang. Then I dyed it black and oiled it, before I assembled the grip.
I annealed the rear of the tang one more time and cut it a bit too long so it would stick out from the rear of the guard a bit. Then I assembled the leather washer, guard and grip and cut the tang so it would stick out about 3/16" inch from the rear of the guard. I peened that done all over the outside of the guard to hold everything in place. Then I went outside to hack at some brush and small trees and the grip stayed tight, so that ended the work.
I was going to make the scabbard, but I ran across a separate and original 1840's European (probably German) Artillery short sword scabbard that fit it beautifully and wasn't too expensive. I found that could be fit inside a repro Enfield Bayonet Frog, as I had seen pictures of cutlasses worn that way in some original daguerreotypes.
I wore that sword in my C.S. Marine Sergeant's impression for a couple of years until I formed a new C.S. Infantry unit and had to have an Officer's Sword. I could not hold onto the cutlass as money was too tight for that, so I sold it as a "Fake Repro" cutlass and the guy who bought it understood that was what it was. However, about six months later I saw it again in a Civil War Shop owned by another guy I knew. I asked to look at it and he had it labeled as an original C.S. Cutlass. I told him the Cutlass was a fake repro and he didn't believe me until I told him I had made it and to whom I had sold it as a fake repro.
Then there is the story about how I made my own M1850 Officer's sword from an original late 19th century, but post-Civil War blade I found. It was the true combat size and temper, but it had never been mounted. I used mostly original parts to make the sword and scabbard whole, though I made and sewed the leather grip wrap and leather part of the scabbard myself.
Gus