Afternoon gentlemen,

I am interested in expanding my inventory of swords. Of late I have had a Scottish flavor. Currently that is being met by a rather nice Hanwei Basket Hilt, but that is not the best that could be had.

So I have been poking about. I'm rather interested in having something besides the usual desultory reproductions of a regimental hilt-- something like a ribbon hilt, for example, or a 'S' hilt, or a diamond-paneled hilt... you get the idea.

Obviously I'm familiar with the Hanwei offerings, which are nice in their own right but somewhat heavy and I understand the baskets are oversize (but then this is a common complaint with reproduction broadswords). Still, they do have a backsword, which stands out somewhat versus the almost uniform double-edged blade.

Then Windlass has a couple, their brass-hilted broadsword (ugh) and their Eglington broadsword (better... but still not quite sure). Cold Steel's is probably (almost certainly?) made by Windlass. Let us not even think of Deepeeka. Universal Swords does have a broadsword, but it is yet another regimental style piece.

Moving on up, the only retailers that I am personally familiar with are Armour Class in the UK and Southern Swords (also UK, retailing other manufacturers' pieces and wall-hangers).

After this point I expect I am looking at custom for the most part.

A&A has at least one example of an English basket hilt, so I expect they could make a Scottish hilt.

Marco Danielli apparently has made some quite nice pieces. Having him make a basket on its own that I could hilt up with another blade appears to be an option.

I know Scott Roush has made a couple of basket hilts...

And of course there are Eljay Erickson and Vince Evans, but a.) $$$$$ and b.) long waits.

Who else might you recommend? Bearing in mind that, regrettably, cost is a concern. I can't do $2000. Probably can't do $1000 either. My max might be $800. Making basket separately in order to have it fitted with a blade is definitely an option for me if it saves money.

Thank you all!

You could have one heck of a basket made for that $$, but, personally, I would go for something from Armour Class. Just my opinion. :) ....McM

That (relatively) new Eglington from Windlass LOOKS pretty good, but I've heard that the basket is quite thin and flimsy. I don't know this from experience...I don't have one. Just sayin'. :) ....McM

Unfortunately I would not recommend most production offerings. They are, as you say, extremely oversized and don't have the correct shaping or handling characteristics of the antiques. You'd likely be better off going semi-production:

I've found the Armour Class basket-hilts to be okay but with reservations. I've seen several in person and they're all sort of rough in a strange way. They vary from example to example, but some seem quite unfinished in places. I'm not talking about perfection here, because a piece mimicking something from history should not be machine-perfect. I'm talking about sloppy execution. More distressing to me is that the baskets are somewhat oversized as far as I'm concerned.

Darkwood Armoury is another supplier of semi-production pieces and they have some Scottish-English basket-hilts available. Their regular offerings are a bit rough but more can be paid to get them to a better, more period finish. My same comment about basket size applies here: of the four or five basket types I've handled, they are all oversized and some of the shaping in three-dimensions is a bit strange.

Danelli Armouries might have a couple patterns already created for basket-hilts and could create a semi-production offering for you. Their wait time is pretty long at this point. I've got no hands-on experience with any of their pieces so cannot comment on finish or accuracy.

This leaves you the custom route. The big makers here are Vince Evans and EB Erickson, but neither have an open queue right now so that is probably out.

Rob Miller of Castle Keep might be another option. I've seen a couple of his offerings and liked them. They weren't as highly finished as Vince's or ElJay's examples and one had a tiny funkiness to its shaping, but they were both still quite good. I've got no idea what the price point of these are so I can't say much more.

This all leaves one custom maker as far as I'm concerned: Arms & Armor of Minnesota. They have the ability to create an accurate version of pretty much any style of basket-hilt and will produce something that closely matches the antiques that inspire it. The downside is that the wait time would be long. Going custom takes a long time... and will blow your budget.


The only thing here that really fits in your budget that is going to hit some of the marks is probably Armour Class or Darkwood. Sub-$1000 is going to have concessions baked in, particularly with basket size and proportions.

All things considered, I'd suggest Armour Class. I think you'd be happy with it.

I agree with Nathan: Armour Class is the best option right now, especially in the just under $1000 range (as long as the exchange rates hold).

I would love to have A & A make a Scottish Basket Hilt, but the last time I inquired to them, I was told they have little interest in making one, due to the complexity and time required. Maybe things have changed - if you contact them, please let us know here if they are willing.

I agree with Nathan and Chris on Armour Class, in every respect. I have one of their "S" hilts and it is certainly worth the money but, as Nathan says, there is an indefinable roughness to it. A custom maker is your best bet to get exactly what you want, but you are going to have to save a bit more money to get it. It is too bad that Donnie Shearer is out of the business because what he produced was reasonably priced and well-made. His work doesn't come up for sale very often but I actually bagged two of them in the Marketplace forum on this site and another one that never made it to the market from a fellow forumite.

Wow, Lin, that thing is huge! Those basket types were a bit on the larger side, but that one looks massive. The shaping also looks strange, though my caveat is that I can only see it in the single photo of course.

Interesting stuff! I also have been a bit interested in basket-hilts lately, so it's good to read all the opinions here, great info for novices.

Did anyone mention Darkwood Armory(sorry if I missed it)...they make pretty nice baskets and rapiers:

http://www.darkwoodarmory.com/index.php?main_...cPath=2_57

PS - Again,sorry...I now see that Nathan mentioned them early on...ooops

Just a head's up for everyone: my work queue is almost caught up, and sometime late this year or early next year I will be accepting commissions again.

However, I do not want to have a jammed up queue ever again. So what I will be doing is accepting between 2-4 projects per workyear. This should enable me to complete all new projects within a calendar year, thus cutting down on wait times for the customers.

--ElJay