I've mentioned in the past that I've seen and held a Hanwei Claymore on which the langets were riveted through the blade. Some of my mentions have been met with, shall we say, skepticism. :)

I foudn a pic in this For Sale thread that may help corroborate what I saw.

[ Linked Image ]

I know some have seen these without this feature, but I have beheld it with my own eyes. This one appears to have the same thing.

Interesting feature. I've always wondered why they did that on at least the one I saw. :)

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The rivet head has been circled. It's clearly not cast in.

I remember you mentioning it some years ago and had to do a double take myself. The vurrent pages at Kult of Athena show the rivets.

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...D+Antiqued
http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...h+Claymore

It was about the time that Kris Cutlery did a second small run of their own. The Hanwei had been a real considreation for me back then until your pointing it out.

Cheers

GC

This is purely speculative, but perhaps the rivet keeps the langet tight to the fuller, as it appears to be in this and the KOA pics. Otherwise you'd have a gap, because the langet would run straight up the blade at the width of the tang thickness. They might object to that visual gap, or it might cause a rattle when the blade flexed.

Did the langet serve any purpose other than decorative? Where they blade traps?

Had to head to the "man cave" and check mine. Has the rivet. :lol:

Chad, the Hanwei claymore has, I believe, had this rivet feature for quite a while now. Mine has it, and I personally like it as a structural feature. It keeps the langets tight to the blade, and no doubt reduces stress on the tang during cutting. I cant help but think that without it, one would get a 'tink-tink' sound with every side to side movement of the long blade. I've seen other claymores in the past, mainly the early Kris Cutlery model, that had the langets extending over the scabbard that came with the sword. To the best of my recollection, claymores were not held in scabbards, but just held over-shoulder or tied to horse or cart. I can't really see a function of the langets, other than to stabilize the blade. I doubt any historic examples have this feature, but I could be wrong...........McM

By that last statement, I mean the rivet...not the langets............McM

That Hanwei sword is very similar to "E.1939.65.HT Claymore 16-17c" held at Kelvingrove (which I got to handle in 2008), which has langets that long, fitting close to the blade. If you look at the early 15th century proto-claymores (longswords with spatulate ends to the cross and a small point in the centre of the cross) you can see where this evolved from, but I suspect that by the 16th/17th century they were purely decorative as I can't see a purpose for them. And no, it doesn't have a rivet through the blade.