I've been thinking about making a belt for my AT 1433 for a long time and decided to do it. My problem is, I'm beginning to wonder how comfortable the belt will be if its not wide enough. Meaning, will the weight of the sword, while not extraordinary at around 3 1/2 pounds, will pull on the belt and dig into my waist. I've poured through the net for pics and its hard for me to tell the with of belt compared to the sword. I mean I know that heavier swords than mine were carrried at the hip historically. What I will be making is a belt similar to Christian Fletcher's Longsword belt, a single waist belt with three point attachment on the scabbard. I am making the belt from a one inch wide leather. Do you guys think this is a good width? Do I need to go wider?

Adam

I have Christian's longsword suspension for my Regent and I find it quite comfortable. That sword is a bit over 3 1/2 pounds and I have no problem with the belt digging into my waist. I think it's more a matter of distributing the weigh than the belt thickness. Get the straps positioned properly and you should have no problem with a one inch belt. Just my .02. :D

Yeah, the way I was going to it do was to have the excess length that passes through the buckle on the front of the belt be what secures to the first strap on the throat of the scabbard. I figure this will let the weight be supported by more of the belt, and then letting the other two straps on the scabbard be more of secondary angel adjusters. In any case, I'll try to post pics here in a week or so, it should be done by then if I ever get started... :blush:

Idon´t know the time period for the sword, if it should be worn with a laced integral style belt or a 15th C style solution.

For the integral laced belt a 1,5 - 2 " belt will probably do fine. This wil cover a period up to mid 14th C. Same width, sort of, you will see through the rest of the 14th C. During the later part is the period of very ornate and flamboyant belts all set with metal "cups". The swords were hung by a system of starp and buckle, perpendicularly, from these.

15th C style belts are more narrow, but then a sword of war from that period would mostly have been carried while wearing a steel breast plate, so that will spread the load. The belt cannot dig into your waist wearing a breast plate. Also a breast plate might actually demand a pretty narrow belt.

If you are wearing period style clothing of wool with lining and linnen underwear, this also makes a narrow belt less of a problem actually.

What you choose will depend on when and how you will wear your sword.
It also depend on how important you think historical style and example is.

A 15th C style waist belt will typically be around 1" wide. The thongs attaching to the scabbard can be half this thickness.

Hope this helps.

Best
Peter

Hello Adam,

My Lutel longsword is just over 4 lbs and the sword belt is 1 inch wide. I don't find that it digs uncomfortably into my side at all. The main issue with such a heavy sword is that the belt hangs looser on my left side than on my right, creating a lopsided look. Something you might want to consider, though I don't know if it's historically accurate, is a 3-point double wrap belt, so the weight goes evenly over both hips. Just make it twice as long and it should work fine.

Thanks guys, your input helped me out alot!

I'm well aware of that. What I was saying was that it didn't matter if the recent Regents are lighter than the older ones, because in the end, when you wear said New Regent with a scabbard on the belt, the scabbard/sword combo is as heavy or heavier than Patrick's listed weight. Hence, any concern over the weight differences is null because, whether new or old, you don't wear a Regent without a scabbard (well, you can, but bring Band-Aids— lots and lots of Band-Aids).