I have seen many pics of gladius swords (gladii??). and I am curious how the pommels were attached. Was the tang peened over the wooden pommel? Were metal plates employed to keep the peening from damaging the wood?

Thanks.

No expert here, but I have been working on a gladii project. From what I understand they where peened in conjunction with a peen block. This keeps the actual peened end about a 1/4 inch off the wood. For a lot of good info on gladii, or anything else roman military for that matter visit the Legio XX website. The link below will take you to their section on short swords

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/gladius.html