A Spanish Sail Guard Rapier.

Phillips IV of Spain by Velazquez.



Introduction.

I got this rapier by way of Pino in exchange for a Pavel Mok sword I bought from him which ,,disappeared'' while in transit. Thanks Pino!





The rapier.

My Sail Guard, like many others, has a blade made in Solingen of a typical design with a short fuller under the guard. It starts as hex and after turns into diamond.









The Sail Guard rapier is a transitional model, on the way to the later Epee.
The long and narrow blade and overall light weight, which made it comfortable to wear, attest to that notion.





But keep in mind that the rapier still, at this time, had a long way to go before it arrived at the end of the line and was turned into a glorified, gilded and diamond encrusted hat pin. Also never forget that these ,,hat pins'', in the hands of a trained person, which many were as training started at a young age, could be wielded with devastating effect.
The Sail Guard was fashionable at the time, especially in Spain and in Portugal.





Since Portugal was only freed from Spanish occupation (1650), a short while before the Sail Guard became the fashion for gentlemen, there were many Portuguese who bought their blades or rapiers from Germany and not from Spanish Toledo. That doesn't mean the rapier under review here is definitely Portuguese, only that there is a good chance it is.
It could be Spanish too. Many of the Spanish gentry thought it appropriate, for whatever reason, my guess is again vapid fashion, to buy their blades from Solingen too.
So, the jury is out on this one and as the type was popular in both nations, I will regard it, for the sake of the Spanish Timeline thread, as Spanish.





Portuguese or Spanish provenance, that doesn't change the Sail Guard rapier one bit.
What changes though is the name. If you should want to do research in the Spanish realm of the internet, the Sail Guard rapier is called ,, Espada de Barquilla'' over there. In Portugal however the rapier is called ,,Espada de Vela''. Without the right search terms you will not get very far and if shopping around is a reason to have a look over there, as there are a lot of goodies to be had if you go ,,native'', you may hit a wall when you type ,,Sail Guard'' in a Spanish or Portuguese search box.

Work.
I had to do a little blade cleaning, not much though. The condition overall was very good for its age. The hilt needed some more work, but is now quite clean and reasonably shiny again.
With some acetone, acid and lots of oil and cotton swabs the makers mark was cleaned.
The makers mark is the crowing cockerel and according to Bezdek this is the mark of Clemens Wupper the Younger. (1655-1700)





I decided to make a scabbard and had tons of fun.
With thin, 1.5 mm, model airplane triplex it was quite easy to do and as I have a box with antique scabbard fittings, the scabbard now sports furniture that isn't too far from the period.
Sheep skin leather provided the cover. This was painted the old fashioned way with oil based black paint in many layers to get a smooth and weather proof surface. The sheep skin is almost absurdly malleable.
You can go every which way with it. It was quite easy to make a good seam by first folding over and pressing the two ends together and taping the scabbard off waiting for the glue to set.
Now the seam looks almost like it was sewed.


Carton mock-up of the fullered part of the blade.


Laying out the design on the triplex.


Cutting and folding one half of the scabbard.


Marking and cutting of excess triplex on the sides.


The box with antique fittings.


The two halves held together with tape to sort out what fittings will fit.


Brush silver plating the fittings of choice with coin silver to make them better blend in with the hilt.


With the tape still in place wound fine bedsheet linnen over the width and painted it with 3 layers of Gesso.
Don't go too tight.  The linnen does shrink.


After still more Gesso and sanding. Almost there.


Yes. Everything fits. Now the paint.


This image gave me the idea to place the washer on top of the scabbard.
That way it will form itself to the guard and make a better water block.


General impression and handling.

I think the blade is authentic but I have my doubts regarding the hilt.
Nothing I can prove, but there is some nagging in the back of my head.
That said, many other Sail Guards, with or without the heart shaped aperture, show these same rather clean and thin hilts, the same quality of the wire, the grip and the pommel. I cannot imagine all of them to have undergone restoration in the 19th century or later, but I have this idea that at least the grip is ,, newish ''.
Never mind though. If this is so, it does not degrade the rapier one bit.
The long and narrow blade is perfect for this type of rapier. It is stiff but has some flex too, so it will not shatter or take a set on impact. It is as deadly as they come. These qualities made sure that we can see this type of blade on many other rapier models.
The Sail Guard is quite light, which means thrusting needs some body power. There is not enough mass to help, unlike with the Hanwei Taza for instance, or the Windlass Christus Imperat,
two of my favourite reproduction rapiers.
I think the Hanwei Taza, together with the Windlass Christus Imperat, are as close to the originals as is possible within the confines of modern production.





The Hanwei Taza and the Imperat are an older type, from just before the more thrust oriented blades like the Sail Guard came on the scene. When sharpened they will cut.
These are substantial, more Cavalry related swords really. A sword with a narrow blade and good hand protection. I still have this notion they are close to the Reitschwert of old in some aspects. I love them.




The Sail Guard blade presented here was never very sharp.
Only the tip section was and that tip section is what the blade was all about.
A deadly spike that with a little push would rip right through anything in its way. Well, except a breast plate of course, but as it was more Officer related in an army context and more of a civilian gentleman's weapon in the first place, chances are low that it would encounter armour. The times had changed. Hence these light weight ,,all'' penetrating narrow spikes.
Of course it handles like a dream. Like it should.
It was still a serious weapon to be used in serious situations. Fast as the proverbial snake with excellent point control. Flick cutting with a small movement of the wrist is easy. And if the opponent didn't die of internal bleeding, he had a good chance to die of blood poisoning. Hurrah!
With all those layers of dirty clothes, unwashed bodies and dirty blades around that was very often the case. More then I want to contemplate really.
The same type of blade can be observed adorning many a cup hilt rapier dating from this period too. There is definitely a switch away from the heavy bladed soldier oriented rapiers to the handy dandy light weight types at least in the civilian sphere.
















Epilogue.

The numbers.

Length OA: 101.5 cm
BL: 94 cm.
BL. width: 10 mm.
Bl. thickness: 7 mm.
Weight: 685 gram.
POB: 8.3 cm from the guard.


And so endeth the Spanish Timeline thread.
We went from the 19th century to the 17th century and on the way I for sure learned a lot as I did not know much about Spain in the context of swords.
Cleaning a rather wide range of blades makes one aware of changing needs over time and the development of a society that goes with it.
For me it was a lot of fun and I hope you all enjoyed the ride too.
And please try the links in the notes. There is much more than I will ever be able to pour into a thread like this.

Cheers.



Isabel of France, Queen of Spain.


Notes.

www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=23358

www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18767

www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpost.php?p=190039&postcount=26

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapier



Sneak Peak.



Number 1 out of 3 Prussian M1811 Cavalry sabres I would like to present.
This one's scabbard is nearly finished too. Hope to do the others in the next two weeks.
See you guys around.