sources . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message pooley sword type manufacture industry sword manufacture founded november 2005 headquarters shoreham airport shoreham by sea england key people robert pooley jane ventris jane sheridan slogan conare et vinces website http pooleysword.com pooley sword are a traditional cutler and provider of swords dirks and lances to the british armed forces and also to many commonwealth and other overseas defence forces . following the august 2005 closure of wilkinson sword s acton works robert pooley mbe who had been commissioning swords from wilkinson s since 1964 purchased many of their drawings product records spares and much of their tooling including both heavy and light machinery some dating back to the late 1800s . contents 1 sheffield workshops 2 shoreham workshops 3 historical services 4 sword of honour 5 materials 6 bespoke swords 7 see also 8 external links sheffield workshops edit fundamental processes including casting and blade manufacture take place at the sheffield workshops . blanks are cut from hardened and tempered sheet steel then ground to shape . fullering of the blade is then followed by polishing . the craft of working precious metals is carried out in london as well as in sheffield . shoreham workshops edit craftsmen further polish silk screen and acid etch the blades to traditional standards . chasing and coin metal plating are performed at this stage . strike and bend testing are followed by several stages of inspection before the sword is despatched to its new owner . the process typically requires six to eight weeks . historical services edit an engineering team led by head cutler peter harmsworth ex of wilkinson sword offers refurbishment services on military and antique swords dirks and lances of historical or sentimental value . sword of honour edit swords of honour are awarded by a number of military colleges and academies to the outstanding cadet of his or her class . having formerly been provided by wilkinson sword swords of honour currently provided by pooley sword include the royal military academy sandhurst the duke of westminster s sword army reserves royal air force college cranwell britannia royal naval college the queens sword commando training centre royal marines welbeck defence sixth form college royal military academy duntroon australia royal australian naval college hmas creswell royal military college saint jean canada royal new zealand air force college new zealand army college royal new zealand navy college materials edit materials used in sword production must meet or exceed mod specification . blades are made from high carbon steel . the guards and back plates are made from forged mild steel and hand embellished before nickel plating . the guards for the raf and royal navy swords are cast in brass chased and then gold plated . grips historically made of shark skin are now made with that of rays related fish species under lesser threat . the brown leather service scabbards are hand stitched pig skin . bespoke swords edit while ceremonial swords are typically crafted to long standing mod or regimental specification a library of historic design elements including military drawings patterns and badges of regiments throughout the commonwealth has been compiled by design technician adam cook . pooley sword services private clients incorporating family crests mottos or novel blade designs such as arabic swords and english mamelukes . pooley also create bespoke presentation swords for overseas national and military commemorations . see also edit swordmaking forging wilkinson sword external links edit pooley sword website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pooley sword & oldid 720593334 categories swordsmithscompanies established in 2005hidden categories articles lacking sources from april 2014all articles lacking sources navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 16 may 2016 at 20 38 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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