some interesting historic swords

Hey Tom, I've tried to link to Wallace collection pictures before, and the search links expire pretty rapidly--I always have to save pictures to my own photosharing site and link from there, like this:



(What I mean is that though I'm sure you found some splendid and interesting swords--I can't see any of them from the posted links )

LOVE the Wallace Collection. Being there in person and was one hell of a day trip--I'm going back in May.

Thanks, Tom I can see them now. Beautiful specimens.

I'd venture to call that first sword an Xa, with the narrower fuller and X-like dimensions. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, you have located the historic sword upon which the Albion "Oakeshott" Xa is based, and it's said to have not only a hexagonal cross-section, but hollow ground primary bevels as well:







That second sword certainly has a monster of a tang on it--I love the blade profile as well. Woof. As far as reasoning for it, I'm thinking blade makers preference--but that could certainly be informed by the quality of steel he was working with. In that oft-cited Arma article by George Turner, he mentions how the tang of a sword undergoes some of the most excessive stresses during a strike and that many historic tangs are more robust than those on modern replicas. Perhaps this sword was engineered for a specific level of abuse? The area right before the pommel is still fairly narrow, so perhaps not. It's intriguing for sure.
www.thearma.org/spotlight/GTA/mo ... pacts3.htm


As for that last one....I don't even have words. I don't know how I missed it on my last visit, but I'll be sure to look at that beauty in person next time---do you have the museum number so I can locate it when I'm there? It's breathtaking.

Thanks for sharing these, they are marvelous!

That's it exactly. Thank you! In the display cases they all have little brass ovals with the museum number for identification, and you look up the number in your directory for more information about the weapon. The second line shows which hall/room the swords are located it--I must have passed by it in Euro Armoury 1 because the later-period swords are mostly further down and drew my interest more heavily that day.




Sweet sword for sure. I think I remember Brian of DBK saying once that the hollow-ground Xa was his favorite-handling Albion one-hander--though he might have been talking about the sister sword to this one: the Chevalier.
www.albion-swords.com/swords/alb ... ier-xa.htm

Very cool.

I wonder if it is out of the realm of possibility for that Fat tang sword to be representative of a smiths effort to affect the weight distribution of the sword? Would it not put more mass toward the hand without resorting to a thicker, and or heavier, pommel or guard?
Measuring the Distal taper of the blade would give one a clue as to how thick the blade is, and maybe lend credence to that hypothesis.
-Perhaps whoever commissioned the blade wanted a heavy bladed weapon for whatever reason, and in order to balance it for use the smith resorted to increased mass in the tang instead of bulky furniture
-Perhaps the smith sucked at fullers, and affected the weight distribution through fat tangs
-Perhaps the smith lacked the skills to effectively distal taper a blade or was hurried by the onset of the commissioning party going off to war
-Perhaps the blade was made in a rush to arm retainers and little care was taken
-Perhaps whoever commissioned it had a tang failure and wanted the super tang to prevent any reoccurrence

All I can say is, "Mister you had better take a BUNCH of good sword pictures when you're there. And send them to ME!" I am so jealous.


Just because my buddy Tom will like it, here's a lighter and a bit clearer A496:




THIS!!!...Is the sword I want to reproduce (A479):

Haha, if I've got my camera fixed by then I most certainly will! Maybe I'll set up a thread a few weeks before to see if there's any special requests for snapshots?




OOH YEA, I remember that one!
A479 is a beast of a sword. What I remember most about it was how unbelievably THICK the center ridge was at the guard. It looked to be the better part of an inch! The sword is DEEPLY hollow ground along the length and just ridiculous to witness. Julien M has some detail photos of it about 2/3 down the page of this Myarmoury thread if you want a closer look:
www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=19720&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Needless to say, the distal taper is intense! That was one thing that really struck me when looking at all those historical examples--even the most rough-looking swords with asymmetric guards and lopsided pommels or wavy lines still had the distal taper of a modern high-performance blade. It seemed very clear that control of mass distribution in the blade took precedence over "neatness," but when the aesthetic crispness was given attention as well--hoo boy, it takes your breath away.


For example, in the review Mike linked to earlier, the reviewer mentions that the Xa from the beginning of the thread had 72% distal taper. Incredible.


***Edit to add***
Jim, that XVIIIa is absolutely gorgeous!

Beautiful sword with a GORGEOUS scabbard to match. Thanks for sharing, Brian! I like your photography almost as much as your leatherwork, lol.