RN Officer's sword

[kronckew]

i bought it some new clothes, a nice RN sword knot.

for some reason lost in time, the powers that be decided to use a two part knot, unlike everybody else, the sword is set up to use this oddball knot. it has two holes drilled thru the guard at the lower part, the separate loop portion is threaded thru the hole from the top then back thru the other hole next to it. the ends are rejoined by a hook/eye and covered with a sliding turks head. it is then poke thru a slot in the finger guard near the pommel where the main portion of the knot is fastened to the loop via a reef knot. the knot is then tied in a figure eight knot with the upper loop of the eight behind the guard, the remainder dangles down. an optional 'court' version is possible with the figure eight knot loop not passing behind the guard, which makes for a longer dangly bit. McGrath & barton indicate that they assume they had a reason for all this, but it was never written down why.

if anyone has an idea as to why this unusual system may have a function, i would appreciate their comments.