The guard was piece of 1/2 x 1/2 brass that I ground the blade side curve on the 12 inch wheel before I started to do the tang slot and shaped the rest of the guard when it was all together at shaping time when the tip of the guard were tapered down to about a 1/4 in square before it was a rounded off. The walnut handle was polished with the same buff after the brass was done and this gave it a very nice dark finish.
