Del Tin 6169 Late 16th Century Spada da Lato
Aug 11, 2023 2:22:11 GMT
Post by madirish on Aug 11, 2023 2:22:11 GMT
Introduction
I purchased this sword from a fellow SBG member. He had it up for quite some time and I had tried to recommend it to someone else on r/Swords back in April...but I kept coming back to look at it myself. He relisted it again recently, and I kept looking. The price was of a good degree less than buying new/shipping and I finally decided to just do it, lol.
Historical overview
Dubbed a late 16th Century Spada da Lato or rapier by Del Tin, there isn't much else in Fulvio's description of the sword or an indication of any specific examples from which he drew his inspiration. These broader bladed rapiers were popular in Italy in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries and considered a precursor or early version of the rapier and was found concurrently with the more slender rapier style more prominent in the later 17th Century that people tend to envision. In the 1500's, it would just have been called a "spada" or "sword". Modern antiquarians coined "spada da lato" to reference these wider 16th-17th Century blades often dubbed "cut and thrust"
They were good for handling a mix of armored and unarmored opponents of that time and allowed a new technique of placing one's finger on the ricasso to improve the grip (with protection afforded by more elaborate guards). Their lightness made them attractive to civilians, but they were also found in military use.
Full Disclosure
In full disclosure, I am a sword newb and not a HEMA practitioner or experienced cutter (or inexperienced, for that matter). I had about 2 weeks of epee training about 35 yrs ago, lol. A couple years back, I became aware of the existence of artists and artisans crafting modern, functional, and beautiful replicas of medieval and renaissance swords, people practicing HEMA, etc, and began to get immersed in the subject. I began my collecting this winter and it has quickly swelled to 5 replicas (1 Deepeeka Viking Sword, a Reliks type XII, an Albion Crecy, an Albion Mercenary, the Del Tin of this review and one antique Prussian artillery saber). I've got the bug, lol.
My point...take my opinions with a grain of salt as I don't have a great deal of experience of comparables or historic usage.
Initial Impressions
I won't comment on purchasing and unpacking as this was a private sale other than to say that the PO is a nice guy and the sword was well packed and shipped as promised.
Everything was solid and tight. A few scratches on the blade here and there, as described, nothing a grey Scotchbrite won't fix. The swords come from Del Tin blunt and the PO had sharpened the blade. The secondary bevel could use some work as it was a bit rough in areas....I may have to learn to sharpen a sword on this one to try to smooth it up some. In my initial dry handling it felt heavy and forward weighted in my hand. I expected a Del Tin to be a bit overbuilt.
Statistics
Weight/Mass: 46.44oz / 1316g
OAL: 42.5" (108cm)
Blade Length Total: 36.75" (93.5cm) (incl ricasso)
Ricasso Length: 1.875" (4.8cm)
Grip Length: 3" (7.6cm)
POB 4.25" (10.8cm)
POC: 25" (63.5cm)
Blade width/thickness at base: 1.5" | 7/32" (3.8cm | 5.6mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 6" 1-5/16" | 7/32" (3.33cm | 5.6mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 12" 1-1/8" | 7/32" (2.86cm | 5.6mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 18" 1" | 5/32" (2.54cm | 4mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 24" 7/8" | 1/8" (2.22cm | 3.2mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 30" 11/16" | 1/8" (1.75cm | 3.2mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 36" 11/32" | 1/8" (.87cm | 3.2mm)
Components
The Blade
A broad blade starting below the ricasso, tapering in profile to a moderately sharp point, fullers terminating about 1/8" off from each other. The blade does not offer a great deal of distal taper, adding to that feeling of heaviness I felt. The hilt feels heavy in my hand and I also feel more torque on my wrist from the tip of the blade wanting to move downward. Again, I am no swordsman, but it feels less nimble than, for instance, my Albion Mercenary hand and a half one handed!
Blade has a nice satin finish and the edges are well aligned. The central rib is prominent after the fullers and less so near the point
Blade width/thickness at base: 1.5" | 7/32" (3.8cm | 5.6mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 6" 1-5/16" | 7/32" (3.33cm | 5.6mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 12" 1-1/8" | 7/32" (2.86cm | 5.6mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 18" 1" | 5/32" (2.54cm | 4mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 24" 7/8" | 1/8" (2.22cm | 3.2mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 30" 11/16" | 1/8" (1.75cm | 3.2mm)
Blade width/thickness @ 36" 11/32" | 1/8" (.87cm | 3.2mm)
The Grip
The grip is wire wound with alternating round wire strands around a pair of twisted silver colored wires. The braided wires have been polished so that the faces are flat. At pommel and guard are a couple of ferrules of two sets of three gold colored wires braided together. The grip stays pretty much level in profile and even in thickness in an oval shape for 2/3 of its length. From there it is a cylindrical taper to the pommel ferrule. Pleasing and tightly wrapped. On the Del Tin site, the example looks to have a browner color, whereas my example is definitely more silver in color.
Grip Length 3"
Max grip height: 1.125" (2.9cm)
Max grip thickness: 15/16" (2.4cm)
Min grip height: 13/16" (2.1cm)
Min Grip thickness .75" (1.9cm)
The Guard
The guard is a complex one with a semicircular knuckle bow filed with some vegetal decorations at its end near the pommel. On the thumb side of the guard are two side rings. The one at the quillons is wider and stands prouder of the blade. The one where the ricasso meets the blade is narrower and lower. Both are filed and engraved with curved shapes and a shield on their outer face. Two semicircular finger rings span the length of the ricasso and are unadorned. Both the fore and rear quillon start out narrower and flair outward towards the ends and are engraved with leaf shapes at the ends. The counterguards are unadorned and consist of three branches starting tat the back of the fore quillon with one going to the fore finger ring and two to the rear finger ring. The quillon block is pointed down the lenght of the sword and stands proud of the quillons and is engraved on both sides with 3 lines. The quillons and knuckle guard are all unadorned on their back face. The components are somewhat roughly cast and antiqued to give a more rustic feeling
Guard thickness at blade center: 15/16" (2.4cm)4
Quillon width: 9.75" (24.8cm)
Quillon height at tips: .75" (1.9cm)
Quillon thickness at tips 3/16 (.5cm)
Knuckle guard outer surface about 2.75" (7cm) from sword centerline at furthest
Finger rings same length as ricasso and protrude 1.5 " (3.8cm) from ricasso edge
Large Side ring is 2.5" (6.4cm) from blade face and about 4.25" (10.8cm)wide
small side ring is about 1.75" (4.5cm) from blade face and about 3.5" (8.9cm) wide.
The Pommel
The pommel swells in size from the end of the grip into a mushroom short of shaped dome with a cylindrical peen block on top. Peen is decently formed, but obvious. The dome of the pommel is alternating indented channels and panels carved something like a walunt hull. The flaring from the grip to the dome is in multiple diameters and rings some with file marks and a vegetal motif.
The pommel is about 2" in length overall and is a bit oblong, with the flatter side aligned with the blade face and is about 1-13/16" x 1-1/2"
The Scabbard
No Scabbards are included with Del Tin swords, in general, and the PO had not sourced one. I'll try one in the future.
Handling Characteristics
Again, I am no practitioner and to make matters worse, I've been dealing with frozen shoulder for the past year and don't have full range of motion (without screaming and having my arm go numb) so I can only say that in my light dry handling, it feels clunky....heavier than I thought it would. I am also not used to a grip with finger or thumb and finger over the guard and I found that the knuckle bow ground into the second knuckle of my middle finger quite a bit when making movements with a twisting wrist. This could be normal, but I have no comparison. It could also be down to my grip...when I rotated my hand around grip so my fingers protruded through the knuckle bow more, the grinding on the knuckle was alleviated, but kind of felt like I had too much index finger through the rings. I dunno.
Since the grip is fairly small, the pommel definitely nestles into the heel of your hand. I felt no hot spots from movement of the pommel around the heel of my hand while rotating my wrist or swinging.
Test Cutting
None done yet.
Conclusions
This was my first Del Tin and it was pretty close to what I expected. Solidly put together, nicely embellished and finished. A bit overbuilt. It is a beautiful sword and that was what caught my eye, never really having given thought to purchasing a rapier previously. My interest has always been more in X, XI, XII territory from the earlier Middle Ages.
I am happy I got it, happy with its look and hope to learn to handle it better and try some cutting with it (though I don't expect it to be a big performer!)
Pros
-attractive design
-solidly built
-well crafted wire wrap
-Nicely embellished
Cons
-No scabbard from Del Tin supplied standard
-Heavy
-Embellishment of hilt components is only on once face of the guard (the back is unadorned)
The Bottom Line
From my initial handling, I would likely recommend this to someone looking for a sword for display, costume wear, etc, rather than someone more interested in solo form work. For the price, it is solidly crafted and very attractive.