Austrian hussar sabre for ID

[kronckew]

Since there was no illustration of the Spanish Notch:

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

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The 'Spanish notch' is another one which came up in my research years ago (now I really want to find these notes!). It was in an article in a magazine around 1979, and I cannot recall the authors name. No satisfactory conclusion was ever found but it seems these notches on the back of the blade were on 'Meditteranean' knives. These were typically used aboard ships by sailors, who used them of course as weapons in the expected knife fights among themselves. It was from these that the Bowie brothers learned the art of knife fighting, and it is believed that they were ancestors of the fabled 'Bowie' knife.
I was told by a blacksmith working in the James Black smithy in Arkansas, home of the 'Bowie', that Black always 'notched' his blades. These had no purpose but were a vestigial nod to those early knives, mostly Spanish but many French ( prevalent in Louisiana of course).
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Originally Posted by From wiki:

Some Bowie knives had a notch on the bottom of the blade near the hilt known as a "Spanish Notch". The Spanish Notch is often cited as a mechanism for catching an opponent's blade; however, some Bowie researchers hold that the Spanish Notch is ill-suited to this function and frequently fails to achieve the desired results. These researchers, instead, hold that the Spanish Notch has the much more mundane function as a tool for stripping sinew and repairing rope and nets, as a guide to assist in sharpening the blade (assuring that the sharpening process starts at a specific point and not further up the edge), or as a point to relieve stress on the blade during use.

A picture is worth a ....aw, you know...


My 'Fowler' Bowie with the 'Spanish' notch:
I suspect it is just a traditional decorative feature, much like the cho or kaudi on a khukuri, which also has a 'nobody really knows why' reputation. I have other bowies with various 'spanish notches'. I'll add a thought that they were the starting point for sharpening. Which looks like the reason for the very plain notch on my smaller "gambler's" bowie at the bottom.

[Interested Party]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Since there was no illustration of the Spanish Notch:

A picture is worth a ....aw, you know...

My 'Fowler' Bowie with the 'Spanish' notch:
I suspect it is just a traditional decorative feature, much like the cho or kaudi on a khukuri, which also has a 'nobody really knows why' reputation. I have other bowies with various 'spanish notches'. I'll add a thought that they were the starting point for sharpening. Which looks like the reason for the very plain notch on my smaller "gambler's" bowie at the bottom.

Interesting. I had always believed a Spanish notch was an indention in a self-guard to help prevent the hand from slipping forward onto a blade. To me the second illustration shows a choil used to prevent the thick and hard to sharpen portion of a blade at the end of the ricasso (which this blade lacks).
I personally have always found the choil more of a nuisance than a help especially if the distal end of the notch doesn't slope towards the point. That said I have been told that large choils are used with big knives to allow fingering the blade to help with delicate tasks. I have heard, and maybe read it on this site as well, that specially shaped choils on some knife patterns help with tasks that are regionally common. I always wondered if the cho didn't start that way, or maybe it is just a linga.

The first example seems to somewhere between all three a notch, a choil, and decoration. I am sorry not to have my own illustrations. I delayed this post almost a week and realized I would never publish it if I waited on pictures any longer.

[cel7]

Interesting discussion about the hook. I myself have a Dutch cavalry officers saber model 1813. This one also has this strange hook (see pictures).
A few years ago there was a large auction of 556 Dutch trooper swords and sabers from the Rijksmuseum depot. This included one curious saber with two semicircular recesses on the tip. Years ago, this collection of sabers from the museum's depot was extensively researched and described by the Dutch researcher G Hof. I have attached his report on this strange saber. Since most of you can't read Dutch, I'll summarize it briefly:
He describes the blade and scabbard of a light cavalry saber No.1. Now you should know that the Netherlands bought a batch of m1796 pattern sabers in England. They arrived in Holland at the end of 1813. Deviating is that a British pattern 1821 light cavalry hilt is mounted on this specific example. According to him, this is not surprising because the Netherlands has conducted tests with, among other things, this type of saber. Unfortunately, Mr. Hof can also find no explanation for the strange recess.
Because Mr. Hof does not rule out the possibility that it may be a test saber, the semicircular recesses could also have been made for testing in my opinion.

[cel7]

Does anyone have any idea what purpose these semicircular cutouts would have served?