cutlass question

No. Curved swords were used in Europe well before the cutlass emerged. And not all cutlasses had curved blades. I am curious as to what prompted the question.

Well...they're both single edged and curved. Similarities pretty much end there, though.

M.

Cute rat on a ship... can't help but feel that I missed the joke, tho.

Cute rat on a ship... can't help but feel that I missed the joke, tho.
That would be a gerbil pirate wondering what happened to the ninja tossed overboard.

The eagle is simply offering an expression somewhat like this

And not all cutlasses had curved blades
Well...they're both single edged and curved.

A random selection of straight and/or double edged 19th century cutlasses.








I don't have a lot of 18th century cutlasses filed but are another folder I should work on. the double edged artillery and infantry patterns are often made for and listed for naval work as well. Some of the above are American Confederate era, while the fish scale knuckle bow job with an eagle on the pommel was an Ames pattern cutlass that was used from the 1840s until the cup type ubiquitous Amrican Civil War type were once again following French patterns from earlier times. These short gladius style developed during the mid to late 18th century and although George Neumann lists this page shown below as naval artillery, the pattern was also used on land. The firgure of eight type seen on British and American styles going forward in the 18th century were quite straight backed with often ground with a short sharp back edge. As mentioned, I don't have others of those in a folder right now. The reproduction market offers some of these via sites such as G.G.Godwin and Loyalist Arms
www.gggodwin.com/
www.loyalistarms.com/



Smore American information can be found on sites such as these.

www.history.navy.mil/index.html
www.navyandmarine.org/index.htm



Cheers

Hotspur; not that there were never any Japanese pirates and other naval vessels. With Chinese naval history predating the Japanese katana; if anything, those naval and land experiences influenced Japanese sword development

A katana always seemed more elegant to me. A cutlass was for tight spaces, really close quarters hack and slash brawls. A short heavy blade for chopping rather than a long VERY SHARP blade for precise cutting.

Just my opinions, K.

@hotspur, nice ship!

Really a rather generic term for water borne expeditions.

Especially if trying to distinguish the difference between a cutlass, hanger and cuttoe or hirschfanger. Cuttoe? Oh, NOOoooo! Here is a cuttoe (and not my cut toe.

From an old Peter Finer auction, a favorite sword


More below, they are long on a screen
files.myopera.com/3sails/albums/811446/Finer1.jpg
files.myopera.com/3sails/albums/811446/Finer3.jpg
files.myopera.com/3sails/albums/811446/Finer2.jpg

Some might refer it to as a hunting sword or hanger and that generalization leads hanger to be a prefered word when discussing military swords. Also easily mentioned as a briquet, which is also refered to as a cutlass when used for naval use. Look on the web for Frech cutlass and a wide array of such definition will come up and possibly confuse as much as possible.
Looking to word origins can be fulfilling. Even just browsing images for cutlass might be fulfilling. As mentioned above, I really don't have much of a cutlass folder but those were the ones I have. There are lots and lots out there.

Hangers, cuttoe and briquet can all qualify to some as a cutlass but many refered to as a cutlass don't well fit in the other categories. Clear as mud, right? ;D

Briquet typically refer to a short curved sword with an entirely brass hilt. However, all branches of service found use for them. Slap an anchor on it and voila, a cutlass (and described cleary as such in that context. It is gererally the context or local use in language that pidgeon holes an example in definition.

Cheers

Hotspur; that's about it for a brief explanation. You don't really want the long version from me

I've always like the curved sabre of the French Hussars...elegantly functional. I've no real interest in swords after the 15th C but for some odd reason, I do love cavalry swords as well so there are later designs that catch my eye, like this one:



Or Glen's horsehead sabre...that one is drool worthy!

Hi guys,

Not unlike medieval and renaissance blades, the research is infinite. A good book for pre-19th century catalogs is George Neumnn's title. A good start but keep other sources in mind from authors such as Gilkerson's Boarders Away Rankin an Tuite books about American Navy histories. Nuemann's is still a good place to start, along with the links posted above.

www.amazon.com/Swords-blades-American-Revolution-Neumann/dp/0811717208

While I often do post some plates of these books, it is kind of improper to be putting entire volumes in pictures online. Some great titles on Amazon allow a look inside option if registered there. Google books as well can be fascinating and in depth as one might care to.

The variations of cutlasses is almost as infinite but there are some pretty standard looking pieces in history.

Cutlass and cuttoe as words are really just the use of the word cutlery or knife in French use of evolution. Hanger is another quite amiguous term and is generally used in context of use, as is sabre and messer for that matter. A good many of the reproductions do have some provenace in stylings but there are many factors of them that show quite a bit of shortcutting, as long as a profile picture looks "OK". Much like other swords discussed quite broadly across many similar forums.

Inter-library loans can access and offer the loan of just about anything out there. For students at universities, JSTOR access is usually openly offered (I wish I had it).

Cheers

Hotspur; digging more than a century of hard soot off a sabre as I speak

The katana isn't that long by the standards of western swords, though. From what I can tell they average is about 30 inches, making your standard katana blade comparable to a long cutlass, or vice versa: a short-ish katana is about cutlass length.

Quality issues aside, I've never heard that cutlasses are supposed to be heavy, though I suppose that varies from sword to sword. The same thing goes for katana, though.