Big British Basket Hilted Sword

ulfberth · 7th June 2020, 03:44 PM

about the obvious diagonal weld line at the end of the tang, im not sure this could also be a line from forging its hard to tell for sure.

Hotspur · 7th June 2020, 10:23 PM

The scarf weld is fairly apparent. There were definitely lathe screw threads of size well before the Victorian age and certainly in the 18th century. If you have, or can borrow some thread gauges (look like notched feeler gauges), a clear match might place it to a standard thread pitch, tpi, etc.

By the mid 18th century, there were some standards for interchangeability.

Cheers
GC

M ELEY · 9th June 2020, 12:11 AM

Beautiful basket hilt, Lee! Thanks for posting it in regards to our questions of threaded tangs on that other post. One must also remember that basket swords were definitely one of those types that were handed down and refitted over many centuries. In Culloden: The Swords and the Sorrows, an extensive collection of baskets from the time of the '45', we see among the large grouping all manner of repairs, restructuring of the basket, removal of some bars to 'open the hilt', forward quillons (hand guards) added after 1700, etc. Its good to lock down the time period of when the detachable pommel first came into place.

7th June 2020, 03:44 PM	#1
ulfberth Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 412	about the obvious diagonal weld line at the end of the tang, im not sure this could also be a line from forging its hard to tell for sure.

7th June 2020, 10:23 PM	#2
Hotspur Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Nipmuc USA Posts: 508	The scarf weld is fairly apparent. There were definitely lathe screw threads of size well before the Victorian age and certainly in the 18th century. If you have, or can borrow some thread gauges (look like notched feeler gauges), a clear match might place it to a standard thread pitch, tpi, etc. By the mid 18th century, there were some standards for interchangeability. Cheers GC

9th June 2020, 12:11 AM	#3
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,141	Beautiful basket hilt, Lee! Thanks for posting it in regards to our questions of threaded tangs on that other post. One must also remember that basket swords were definitely one of those types that were handed down and refitted over many centuries. In Culloden: The Swords and the Sorrows, an extensive collection of baskets from the time of the '45', we see among the large grouping all manner of repairs, restructuring of the basket, removal of some bars to 'open the hilt', forward quillons (hand guards) added after 1700, etc. Its good to lock down the time period of when the detachable pommel first came into place.