[Jonathan Hopkins]

After a year of storing my swords on some shelves in the guest room I decided it was time for a proper display/storage solution. I am not terribly handy--not because I can't learn how to make things, but in general I lack the tools and the willingness to invest in tools. So, what to do about a display...

I decided that I wanted to buy ready-made rack, but I was not willing to pay very much. After searching eBay and various online retailers I decided to buy an 8-sword wall display for $29.99 (plus shipping for a total of about $40.00) from KultofAthena.com. I decided to buy from Kult of Athena for several reasons; their prices matched those found on eBay for similar products, they have a reputation for great customer service, and they accept PayPal.

8-sword wall display from KoA:


The rack is quite nice for the price. The catch is that it is made for Japanese-style swords, and is therefor too narrow for more hilt-heavy European swords (it measures 13 3/4'' wide x 40'' tall). This was easy to remedy since the rack is held together with dowels. After a short trip to my local home improvement store, I was ready to begin modifying my sword rack.

Tools and supplies:


I cut the dowels so that they were twice the length of the previous dowels. Unfortunately, this means that I need to go back to the store for one more dowel, but at abut $1.50 each, it's not a big deal. Here is the result of my efforts so far:



In addition to adding the third dowel, I will also be painting the dowels. I will use leftover wall paint, so when I am finished the dowels will match the color of the wall in the bedroom (which is also a burgundy color, although not quite as dark). I will update this thread once this rack is complete. So far I am quite pleased with what I have done. The total cost for the project will end up at about $45.

Please feel free to comment or make suggestions, or to post your own sword display/storage projects.

All the best,
Jonathan

[Nathan Robinson]

Good easy solution. Ingenious.

I'm curious about this solution as I have a lot of basket-hilt type of weapons and larger compound hilts. Will that rack hold such "large-hilted" weapons? Do they hit the wall when held?

[Jonathan Hopkins]

Thank you, Nathan. Your question prompted me to see how a basket hilt would work on this rack. The result will depend on how big the basket is, but the rack was able to accommodate my English basket hilt. However, I think that I will add some strips of felt to the arms of the rack to prevent wear to the rack and the swords, and also to prevent the larger-hilted swords from rotating forward. The basket of my sword does rest against the wall, but that does not bother me. I am not sure what difference a scabbard would make because my sword does not have one. If one is concerned about having the basket touch the wall, I am sure that shims could be added to the back of the rack to put some space between the hilt and the wall.

Jonathan

PS--Just wanted to add that the basket hilt and a P1796 heavy cavalry trooper's sword will be the largest hilts in this rack. The swords I will be displaying have little or no inboard guard and will not touch the wall at all.

[Nathan Robinson]

That sounds about perfect! Like you said, one can always pull it away from the wall with additional blocks/strips of wood. I might have to do this at some point. For me, I'd like to hang the swords on the wall of a walk-in closet. That way, they're out of the way, but still accessible. This would encourage me to look at 'em every now and again

[Jonathan Hopkins]

I felt motivated today, so I painted the poplar dowels and mounted the rack to the wall. I think it turned out nicely. I just need to decide how I want the swords displayed on the rack:

like this...



...or like this?



The rack holds eight swords, but I only have seven on display now because that is the number of Victorian swords in my collection. I am very happy with this display method, and at some point I will be making one for my Georgian swords and one for my miscellaneous swords and bayonets.

Thanks for looking!

Jonathan

[Nathan Robinson]

You need one more Victorian sword!

[Jonathan Hopkins]

[Ed McV]

The person who previously owned Earlshall castle, Scotland had a massive collection of Scottish basket hilted swords. He had a fairly simple arrangement for holding all these swords around the room/gallery. They were positioned in the vertical hilt up and it showed these swords very well.

[Peter G.]

Nice job Jonathan..
Both ways look ok to me, i´d prefer the one with all hilts on one side.
What i don´t like is that all swords are in their scabbards-i think its a drawback one can´t see the blades.

So i would store only 4 swords on the rack beside their scabbards.
If stored in the scabbards i fear they start to rust.

[Jonathan Hopkins]

Peter,
Thank you. I decided to display the swords with the hilts all on the same side as you suggest. I think it is a better look for these types of swords. I don’t have the space to display swords and scabbards separately, nor do I feel the need to do so. The swords are in our guest room so they are not in a high traffic area, so having a stunning display of blades is not important to me.

I am not concerned about storing swords in their scabbards. In 15 years of collecting none of my blades have developed rust from being stored in their scabbards. I wipe the blades occasionally with a silicone impregnated cloth, which seems to work well. All of my swords that have scabbards have better preserved blades than swords without scabbards. I guess that has encouraged me to store swords in their scabbards.

Jonathan