Here is my other hunting sword

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Triarii

Interesting hilt on that bottom right photo. Style of the ribbon and piercings is very much like that often seen on the English Type 87 and Type 91 hilts as AVB Norman calls them, like this one.

There's one of those Prins Anglie swords in the Fitzwilliam collection.

The part of this thread discussing makers names on blades, and someone asking me how long it took to make a single sword (no idea) has made me think, noting the caveat that we don't have that many survivors from the mid C17th, did smiths mark every blade that they made? If not, why only certain ones?

There seem to be a number of swords with this inscription, but only about 4 or 5 recorded, the Fitzwilliam one is listed in Mann, 1962.

The idea of marking ones own name on blades produced was not necessarily a well practiced convention, though there are obviously those so marked in many cases. It seems more common in Germany that the use of spurious marks, mottos and names were far more common, especially through the 17th into early 18th c.
In England, it seems Aylward notes that the placing of his name on blade by the maker was just not done. I think this was more to the fact that most blades were sold to British cutlers typically from Germany. These were termed 'Dutch', likely more for the fact that these were exported through Dutch ports, most commonly Rotterdam......not necessarily for the idea of the pronunciation of 'Duetsch' for German.

Typically the British would place the name of the cutler on the locket of the scabbard on high end or officers swords, with other ranks of course these remained blank except cases where contracts were being filled ? or for notoriety in 18th c.
In the 17th c. many other ranks, hangers etc. had no name, and in Hounslow, like with my example hanger 1630s-40 only the brass wolf exists. As Holmes (1957) notes many Hounslow swords had no name or date, though many had just the wolf.

The export of many, notably countless, blades out of Solingen were effectively'blanks', produced in huge numbers for export, It seems often these may have been unfinished as it is noted that many grinders and polishers were employed in mills in Hounslow and Shotley. With the swords hilted in America, many were foreign (though America was technically British) and of course German typically, and the French examples while Spanish blades in the 18th c. were usually made in Germany until later in the c.

There are actually many surviving blades of 17th c. and as previously noted, there are many variations and exceptions as far as marking of blades depending on incidental cases. It is hard to say how long it took to make a blade, again, in what period, where, size of shop(s)...but blades were made in profound numbers even by small shops.

[urbanspaceman]

Regarding the time it took to make a sword:
there were many stages in the production of a finished sword.
The first stage is obviously the forging of the blade.
Oley was getting his steel from Bertram, and Bertram understood better than all of them what it took to forge a blade, so the steel he supplied required minimal attention.
Then the various stages of grinding, hardening, sharpening and polishing were practiced by experts in that skill alone. This was always the Solingen way, and I see no reason to consider it differed when the smiths encamped in Shotley Bridge.
Then, of course, they had to be hilted; in the case of SB only a small exclusive percentage were given to the village Wilson family who had engraved and hilted for many previous generations.
Some also went to Thomas Carnforth the Newcastle cutler and he would employ the services of Newcastle goldsmith John Sandford when necessary. Plus, they needed a sheather and a belt maker: they were usually supplied by a Gentleman's outfitter/tailor.
This did not happen overnight obviously.
However, Kalmeter (Swedish industrial spy) noted that in 1719 the production capability of SB was 21,000 per year, but as I said, this produced finished blades pre. hilting etc.
Chests of blades alone were shipped to The Tower and (then agent) Cotesworth's accounts detail one such shipment of 19,200 blades between November 1710 and August 1712. This amounts to a production of c.34 blades a day assuming Sundays were free. The cost was 1 shilling a blade.