Basket hilt sword

I've made up a new sword for sword and shield style.
I was convinced to try out a basket hilt and demi gauntlet, instead of my usual cross hilt with gauntlet setup.

Original stick of rattan stats :
width 1 3/8 inch
weight 443 grams
length 89.5cm

Black plastic sca basket hilt 303 grams


I shaped the handle and shaved the sides of the blade with an angle grinder.


I wrapped the blade in 1 spiral layer of Fibre tape,
then 1 layer of hockey tape

With hockey tape, I put two layers of 1/2 inch closed cell foam into a low profile thrusting tip. (just over the minimum length).
I taped the basket hilt with some fibre tape and some hockey tape.

Finished weight 840 grams

The final sword is well balanced, light and should let me do damn fast snaps :)

Cheap rebated sword

I recently bought a new rebated sword from global gear.
TEMPERED CARBON STEEL TEMPLAR BATTLE READY SWORD. They have ebay auctions all the time. It's pretty roughly finished and basic but I like it's simplicity.

For $90 delivered, I can't complain though. It has over 3mm edges and a rounded tip, which I'm assuming makes it appropriate for metal weapon group fighting. It doesn't seem to have a full tang, as I can't see a peened end on the end of the pommel.

I would say it has a X blade type, a broad fullered cross section very little distal taper and a gradual profile taper. It has a type K pommel and style 6 cross.
This makes it's style around 1200-1350. 

Here are some measurements I've made:
Weight 1.4kg
Tip weight 330 grams
Centre of balance 14cm down the blade.
Cross length 22cm
Cross thickness 8mm
Blade length 75cm
Blade width at base 4.8cm
Tip thickness 4mm
Tip width 2.8cm
Hilt length 19cm
Grip length 12cm



This sword blade is closest to the Bayeux of the alibion swords available
http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/nextgen/sword-medieval-bayeaux-x.htm
www.albion-swords.com/images/swords/albion/nextGen/bayeux/bayeux-1.jpg
But with the hilt of the yeoman
http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/nextgen/sword-medieval-yeoman-typexiv.htm
www.albion-swords.com/images/swords/albion/nextGen/yeoman/yeoman-3.jpg

The overall weight is too high, but that's to be expected from a rebated weapon.

Tip weight is measured by holding the sword between fore finger and thumb in the normal hand position. Then place the sword tip on scales. It should not matter exactly what angle you hold it at, but it should be approximately horizontal.

Ref Blade types www.myarmoury.com/feature_oakeshott2.html
Pommel types www.myarmoury.com/feature_oakeshott3.html
Cross syle http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_oakeshott4.html
Blade properties http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_properties.html

Buckler construction

Here are some pictures of my SCA heavy buckler being constructed.
The grip is on the front face, so that the balance of the shield is comfortable.
This reduces the apparent weight of the shield, as it sits in the desired position by itself. This way the larger muscles in your arm are used to hold the shield in position, and the smaller muscles are only engaged if an adjustment is needed.

Bastard sword construction

Here are some pictures of my SCA heavy bastard sword being constructed.
The grip is based on a black synthetic waster.

Pear shaped Pommel pewter 1.7 pounds
Square Cross aluminium 1 pounds


Bastard 134cm total cob 4.3cm from cross 101cm blade with tip 2.08kg finished

Square shield construction

Here are some pictures of my latest centre grip square shield construction.

Weight without tubing 3.0kg
It's a reasonably heavy shield, but it is nicely weighted, due to the handle being attached on the front face.

Evidence for what we do?

The SCA is unique in that it encourages exploration into sword play at realistic speeds for percussive force fighting. To my knowledge there are few other ways to experience this type of fighting safely. The second focus is on the martial aspects of pre plate armor sword play (and other weapons) and how it might actually work when applied. One area that gets a lot of apparent malice is that lack of backing up evidence for the style of fighting that is employed as there are no texts related to sword play much before 1400 but the sca is interested in fighting from 600 - 1600. I recently noticed a very interesting image that is freely available on this wiki article which relates to Arp Aslan from around the 11th century:


Of particular interest is the fine warrior located center and back wearing red. What strikes me is the stance he is employing in this image which appears to be in SCA terminology 'tent' or 'house' block. This has become the dominant stance for many of the top tier fighters in the SCA.



While there are no books instructing on this guard it is very effective in blocking sword blows with ones own sword and is very fast becoming the main stance I use when fighting sword and center boss (as the warrior appears to be doing in this image). What struck me is that I wouldn't have noticed this stance without being able to practice sword play at full percussive strengths due to the lack of perspective that 2 dimension drawings have. Further more this stance wouldn't
exist if single hand swords weren't regularly used as blocking devices on their edge. This appears to go against some of the information I have recently heard from other sword practitioners, clearly more investigation is required.

ps. I note a lot of plate metal armor around the legs and what appear to be plate gauntlets, I was under the impression such armor was very rare until several hundred years later, am I wrong?