In the words of my Father-in-the-Lord and spiritual mentor, Homer Simpson, "Woo Hoo!" The casting, cooling during the last post, has emerged triumphant. The first photo shows it as it came out of the sand. 
Ewww, what a gnarly looking thing. Second photo shows it cleaned up somewhat. The secret seems to be to plan the gates so that the more constricted parts of the mold (the cross-guard) fills first.The added bonus is that my "tang liner" idea worked like a champ.Now, this begs the question: Why this Handle? I mostly do reinterpretations of blacksmith-produced Bowies for my Civil War blades. My method of work has always been to try to put myself in the position of someone "back in the day" and make whatever knife I'm working be put together with whatever level of field-expediency that seems appropriate.
This handle, as stated earlier, is from an artillery short sword produced in Europe a few decades prior to "The War of Northern Aggression". Many of this type and others were run through the blockade to equip the under-industrialized and under-weaponed Confederacy.
My ultimate plan is to produce a Bowie based on the premise that one of the European short swords would be reconfigured either from a broken blade or by someone who just wanted a battlefield find to be of more useful size.
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A Priest, a Pentecostal Minister and a Rabbi all served as chaplains to the students of Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop. One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn't really all that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear.
One thing led to another and they decided to do an experiment. They
would all go out into the woods, find a bear, preach to it and attempt to convert it.
Seven days later, they're all together to discuss their experiences.
Father Flannery, who has his arm in a sling, is on crutches and has
various bandages, goes first.
"Well," he says, "I went into the woods to find me a bear. And when I found him, I began to read to him from the Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to slap me around. So I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, Holy Mary Mother of God, he became as gentle a lamb. The bishop is coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation."
Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, with an arm and both legs in casts, and an IV drip. In his best fire and brimstone oratory heclaimed, "WELL brothers, you KNOW that we don't sprinkle! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to my bear from God's HOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So I took HOLD of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we came to a creek. So I quick DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul. And just like you said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of The week in Fellowship,
feasting on God's Holy Word, and praising Jesus."
They both looked down at the rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed tubes in and out of him. He was in bad shape. The rabbi , with a look of wise reflection, looks up and says, "Looking back on it,
circumcision may not have been the best way to start."
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