Hi,
I live in the UK & I am in the process of commissioning a Type XVa sword & scabbard from Iain at Armour Class in Scotland.
http://www.armourclass.co.uk/

It will have a Type T scent-stopper pommel, a Style 8 cross-guard & the blade will be 37" long tapering to an acute point but it's the width of the blade at the guard I am unsure about. I originally discussed 1.75" with Iain but I am now thinking that 1.5" would look better. The sword will be for show & non contact wielding only, any ideas & advice will be gratefully received.

Many thanks,
John.

I think it's entirely a matter of personal preference, either width would be historically correct, as would slightly bigger.

John,

I would go with 1.75”. I have a 1.5” of similar design from A.C. (from thicker than standard stock with a 'Family D' hilt) and it is the quickest handling longsword I own by a long chalk. In an unarmoured duel this thing will slice you to bits if you aren’t lightning fast off the mark! It took a bit of getting used to but I really love this sword now, however, at times I would like a touch more blade presence, and I do think it would look better with a slightly wider blade.

If you do fancy using it for cutting, my A.C. only likes lightish targets but it is bl**dy good fun - for anything heavy though it will struggle (Gus is making me a ‘pay off the machine’ 1403 so it will be interesting to have two workhorses at different ends of the spectrum!)

Neil.

Thanks for your responses guys. I'm fairly new to sword collecting & at the moment I have 3 Del Tin swords, 2140 (Type XIV), 2144 (Type ??) & 2153 (Type XV) plus a Thorpe Falchion replica made by Jiri Krondak of Fabri Armorum. I wanted something completely different this time, hence the XVa with a very narrow blade so I'm still edging towards 1.5".

Neil, sorry for being a bit dim but I don't understand what you mean by "(Gus is making me a ‘pay off the machine’ 1403 so it will be interesting to have two workhorses at different ends of the spectrum!)

re the Del Tin 2144, could someone please advise me which Oakeshott Type this sword is, many thanks.

Thanks Jean, having read many posts I find there's quite a lot of site "vernacular" that I don't understand but that's down to my lack of knowledge & is most definitely not a criticism of the site or its members. I've learned so much from these articles & forums, which is why I asked my question here.

Thanks for that Jean, and indeed for raising the 1403 issue in the first place – this one and the 1433 are on my shortlist, but I was waiting until Gus has ‘rebooted’. This way I will pick up the 1403 in the sale and can get the 1433 next year (with the full CF treatment possibly).

The A.C. hits the scales at about 2lb 6oz by the way – with a COG of about 2” – this one is perfectly usable one handed. It really is one for a street fight, but not the battlefield.

Neil.