Sometimes a basket hilt
May 11, 2011 3:01:45 GMT
Post by Kilted Cossack on May 11, 2011 3:01:45 GMT
If you use a moniker like "Kilted Cossack" then you might reasonably be suspected of having Scottish ancestry, and if you use a moniker like that on a sword forum it's pretty certain that eventually you'll end up with a basket hilt.
Well, I did. I picked up a Cold Steel Scottish basket hilted broadsword during a CS sale. It was an attractive package, but I wasn't happy with the blade, and I decided to swap in a H/T EMSHS blade, which also meant changing out the grip and the pommel as well. Inspired by a Kirk Lee Spencer post at Myarmoury.com I also decided to strip the bluing from the basket and brown it.
It is still a "work in progress" but it qualifies, to my mind at least, as a "working sword" in its own right at present.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! It does have a wooden pommel! And the point of balance remains at the EMSHS's 4 1/2". And yes, the grip does look sort of like it belongs on a gladius.
In a happy accident, I remember seeing a post by Tinker as to how he'd designed the EMSHS for I:33 work, and now, as I am reading some background on Highland broadsword fencing, it turns out that traditional Highland swordplay retained a lot of medieval/I:33 elements.
Fumbling my way through some Silver drills with this sword, I'm pretty pleased. The Cold Steel version was a cleaver, a big, heavy, cleaver. Not quite a "sharp crowbar" but it was slow to start, slow to stop, and slow to turn. With the H/T blade, this basket hilt gets off to a jackrabbit start, stops on a dime, and turns faster than milk left on the counter in August. (I had a bunch of folksy metaphors to get out of my system.)
Well, I did. I picked up a Cold Steel Scottish basket hilted broadsword during a CS sale. It was an attractive package, but I wasn't happy with the blade, and I decided to swap in a H/T EMSHS blade, which also meant changing out the grip and the pommel as well. Inspired by a Kirk Lee Spencer post at Myarmoury.com I also decided to strip the bluing from the basket and brown it.
It is still a "work in progress" but it qualifies, to my mind at least, as a "working sword" in its own right at present.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! It does have a wooden pommel! And the point of balance remains at the EMSHS's 4 1/2". And yes, the grip does look sort of like it belongs on a gladius.
In a happy accident, I remember seeing a post by Tinker as to how he'd designed the EMSHS for I:33 work, and now, as I am reading some background on Highland broadsword fencing, it turns out that traditional Highland swordplay retained a lot of medieval/I:33 elements.
Fumbling my way through some Silver drills with this sword, I'm pretty pleased. The Cold Steel version was a cleaver, a big, heavy, cleaver. Not quite a "sharp crowbar" but it was slow to start, slow to stop, and slow to turn. With the H/T blade, this basket hilt gets off to a jackrabbit start, stops on a dime, and turns faster than milk left on the counter in August. (I had a bunch of folksy metaphors to get out of my system.)
