Posts: 1,757 Location: Storvreta, Sweden
Mon 22 Feb, 2010 12:23 pm
Nice work Christian.
Brings a smile to my face.
I have this impression that the germanic hilts often had a thin leather cover over the pommel and guard (and grip in those cases when it was just wood). These nails are spaced over the surface in a way that it seems like an intention to distribute the stress of keeping leather taut over the surface. The deeply cut groves in the direction of the edge also seem perfect to keep two halves of leather pressed down while the leather cures.
(Perhaps even roman sword hilts were finished like this, in those cases when only wood was used?)
The leather would have been of a thin kind. Possibly gut leather. Since this type of leather was used to cover
shields, it was a material and technique that was commonly in use. The transculent leather allows for coloring of the wood below the leather and the surface will take a wax or fat very readily, allowing effective proofing against wetness.
Just my private theory.
I know that no leather as survived, but that is also the case with the shields: no leather cover has survived. Tests has shown that a thin gut leather most probably have been used, even if no actual trace of the leather now survives. Edge bands around the rim of the shields would also have been effective in sealing the leather and keeping it in place. Sometimes also small holes as from stitching around the rim.
In the case of sword hilts we have the plentiful use of rivets and domed tacks, plus otherwise mysterious semi-circle shaped narrow iron bands along the edge of pommels and guards.
What do you think of this theory?