repurposed rapier blades

[Radboud]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

Yes, I absolutely mean 600 and 650gr... what was I thinking?!
Those are exactly the kind of early smallswords we find predominating up in the North of the British Isles. They were made in Shotley Bridge between 1688 and 1691 but almost certainly nearer to '88. I have seen several more of almost identical design.
They would have been in the hands of local Jacobites and were definitely dress swords. The military versions were horseman's swords with broader blades of the same length (30") but those blades were smuggled in from Solingen and feature the Passau Wolf, whereas the smallswords have the Oley bushy tailed fox.

Those are heavy smallswords, my heaviest is the Spanish cup-hilted one at 640 grams and that has a 34.5 inch blade.

What I mean by military use, is that we know some officers would carry swords (such as rapiers, smallswords or hunting hangers) that weren’t strictly ‘military battle swords’. Maybe these gentlemen wanted a sword that gave them more options against a backsword.

Alternatively could they be what was called ‘shearing swords’ on a smallsword hilt? That wonderful grey area we modern collectors love and hate.

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

You make a very valid point re. refashioning rapier blades: the Portuguese one above has a flattened diamond profile which is maintained down to the foible; it is perfect throughout its length. It makes me consider if it was not always that length and if so, for what? Were they buying stock, ready to mount in smallswords? Every question has three following up.

We know that there was international commerce back to ancient times, so specialisation of production was well established by the time your blade was produced. German, Italian or Spanish made blades would be shipped across Europe to be hilted by local cutlers to meet the tastes of the local market. It is not unreasonable to believe that adjustments were made in the final fit and finish.

I think we need to consider the economics of the time as well, materials were expensive while labour was not. Would they throw away steel on a grinder? The re-using of a blade makes economic sense, but how much steel would they be prepared to waste in the process?

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

Let me have an active link so I can see yours; does it feature a cartouche at the ricasso?

Odd that the link doesn’t work, it should take you to a page on the SBG Sword forums that lists my swords with links that then go to each sword (photos and stats). Here’s the full text to copy and paste:

https://sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/t...d-measurements

for example the link to my cup-hilted smallsword is: https://sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/post/898439

Or the French m1767: https://sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/post/878362