Sword Belt...where to begin? -- myArmoury.com

Brooks Chambers · Posted: Wed 13 Apr, 2011 9:19 am Post subject: Sword Belt...where to begin?

Good Day All!

I just received my Hanwei Saxon from Kult of Athena and am very pleased with it. My next task is to find a belt that would work with this sword functionally and visually. I don't really know where to start. The attached photo shows the rings on the scabbard that, I assume, are meant to attach to a belt in some fashion. I am ever so ignorant about these things and would appreciate any guidance as I am in a bit of a hurry to narrow down my search (I have an upcoming event in the first week of may).

Many thanks!

Elnathan Barnett · Posted: Wed 13 Apr, 2011 11:27 am Post subject:

An authentic belt might be a bit of a problem, since I am pretty sure that there is no evidence that swords from that period had rings on the scabbard. Earlier swords had a couple of buttons to hold the belt or baldric on, later ones used a belt that slipped under the scabbard covering.

JE Sarge · Industry Professional

Since it already has the mounting rings, I'd just go with a Roman-type baldric for now. There are a couple different options out there:

Here is one from KoA that they call a "Late Period Roman Baldric" that looks better than a plain leather strap:

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...rd+Baldric

And here is one that is, well, a plain leather strap:

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...in+Baldric

And lastly, here is how the rings were mounted in a baldric on one of my old gladii:

Photobucket image

The four-ring mount is definately a Roman thing. I would probably just go with some simple 1" leather strapping and a buckle at the chest, then like in the example above, split the ends on one end to give 2-pts rear, 1-pt forward, and tie on my own baldric. The cost would be very inexpensive, the leather, dye, and a nice 1" buckle can be found on eBay for very, very cheap - it it would look better than the KoA offerings, especially if you were able to emboss some Saxon runes or something.

You might want to have the scabbard re-covered at somewhere like Custom Sword Shoppe and have a more historically-accurate suspension crafted for it down the road if you like the sword.