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Post by nerdthenord on May 6, 2018 0:19:55 GMT
Hello. Let me know if this is in the wrong place.
Ok, so I am planning on commissioning a custom sword soon. I absolutely love the way migration period swords look, but historical swords of this type tend to be very blade heavy. I want mine to be very nimble instead. By the way, the blade will be 27 inches long. I know this is important. Basically, I'm asking for ways to make the sword handle extremely nimbly while still being a migration period type. This is a "historical fantasy" peice anyway, so historical accuracy is not all that important. I also understand that migration period swords tend to be rather light, and one with a 27 inch blade particularly light. Having such a light sword with a low point of balance would likely sacrifice during power, but that's not much of an issue to me. I'm thinking of a point of balance at or less than 4 inches from the guard. And yes that's probably cliche.
Any ideas would be appreciated. I was thinking making it have a large fuller, but didn't know if that would be enough by itself.
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Post by legacyofthesword on May 6, 2018 1:33:21 GMT
Large/deep fuller, aggressive distal taper, big/heavy pieces for the hilt, thin blade. All these could tip the POB back to 4 inches or less from the hilt, and make for a sword that handles very quickly.
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Post by legacyofthesword on May 6, 2018 1:36:38 GMT
For instance, I own this sword: kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AA238 As you can see, the blade shape is somewhat like a Migration Period sword, yet the balance is at 4 5/8". I can personally attest that this sword handles extremely fast and nimbly. A good smith should be able to make a Migration era sword to your specifications fairly easily, AFAIK.
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Post by nerdthenord on May 6, 2018 1:46:19 GMT
Thanks for the response. I'll keep all of this in mind.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on May 6, 2018 1:58:49 GMT
Aim for a thin deeply-fullered blade, lightweight organic or mostly-organic hilt. You should be able to get the weight down to 700g, maybe even 600g. Shave all the weight off the last 1/3 of the blade that you are happy with (i.e., make it as thin as you are comfortable with it still being strong enough). The last 4-6" of the blade could even be under 2mm. Don't worry about where the POB is - just let it be where it wants to be (which might be 6-7"). Nimble will come from low weight, especially in the last part of the blade. Making the hilt heavier to bring the POB back will only make it less nimble.
If you can get down to 600g, it should be really fast. But even 700g should still be nimble.
Measuring an agile infantry sabre that was sitting next to me, it's 625g, 29" blade, broad deep fuller which goes almost all the way to the point. From about 4" to 19", the blade is about 2mm thick in the fuller, and from 19" to about 2" from the tip, about 1.5mm thick. The spine drops to 3mm about 6.5" from the tip, and thins to just over 2mm from the tip. POB is about 6.7". It is nimble. Not nimble like a 300g smallsword, but you won't get a 27-30" 600-700g cutting sword that nimble. Nimble in a good, still-usable-for-cutting way.
For a "historical fantasy" one, you could go for a multi-fullered blade (e.g., like the Albion Decurio spatha).
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Post by nerdthenord on May 6, 2018 2:16:21 GMT
Sounds good. All of this sounds like good advice. Thanks for the answers. I'm hoping to get it commissioned within the next week.
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Post by L Driggers (fallen) on May 6, 2018 13:26:46 GMT
You need to talk to the person who will be making the sword.
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Post by wulvz on Jun 9, 2019 1:31:13 GMT
Migrational period blades usually had very big and long tangs and they didnt taper much
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