[Robert Muse]

Good Evening,

I have a question that I would like some input on. That being the best, or most accurate at least on the suspension of a langsax. I know most pictures depict the wearer having the seax hanging from the front of the belt.

Well I have three langsax that have blades between 24 – 26 inches. Two by Michael Pikula and one by Brendan Olszowy. If one was to wear one of these in the commonly accepted form they would stick out a foot or more to the wearer’s side. Not very practical.

So just how were these worn? Were they ever slung to the left side, angled like a sword? Or worn from a Baldric? Anglo Saxon and Norse forms are of interest.

Input and directions much appreciated before I set to work on a suspension.

Regards
Robert

[Kevin Winter]

Practicality is ageless. If the knife is much wider then the body it is impractical to wear it horizontally.

Take a look at the seax 1/3 down the page with the brass spirals. Mr Sjoberg built a reproduction with the hangers reducing to one, but without those artifacts, it could have been 2 or even 3 belt attachment points.

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthrea...s!!!/page6


ETA- If horseback, fewer points would allow more movement, like saber mounts, but a seafarer would need it snug.IMO

[Johan Gemvik]

There are stone carvings showing seaxes being worn with a baldrick across the body as seen in the re-ectment photos above. There are also stone carvings of large seaxes being worn straight down the leg and the scabbard seemingly wrapped with cloth. Probably a variant of a regular wrapped sword scabbard.
Then there's that odd looking "revolver holster" on a belt string thing that's been pictured in art in constantinople and found in a number of graves in Russia.

Seaxes with leather scabbards were often substanital in mass for their lenght, but small to medium length, thoguh at least one find is quite long. Most are short enough to be kept horizontally at the back without being in the way.

Seaxes with wood core scabbards with side and decorative platings, as those found in Valsgärde and Bjärs, as well as various other places around Sweden, tend to be larger, short swords or even full length swords.
These have two ringlike fastening loops, something like flattened tuning fork shapes fastened to the back of the scabbards, perhaps even sunk into the wood and hidden under a leather covering, and extruding at the edge side, in some cases through the side platings. These moslty seem too long to wear at the back as they'd stick out. Most are gladius length or shorter, but some are as big as 70 cm proper swords with an additional metal plated extension to the scabbard that doesn't hold the blade but lets it be shaped to a point. So as much as 80 cm long with scabbard. Exactly how these were worn is unknown, but the most likeyly to me seems a baldrick, again as seen in the photo posted above.

I've also recently come across data on one seax find that was as much as a meter long with the full original handle. How would you wear that, I don't know.

[Audun Refsahl]

Thank you Johan, yes, it was the actual finds of the actual buckles or a solution with buckles like this that is interesting, both pictures, dating and location. If there is a paper on it somewhere, or mention in a book that would be cool.