[Tim Mathews]

Greetings all,
I am considering a new project starting with a Darkwood Armoury Schiavona Basket Hilt ... From what I can see either the late 16 century or 17 century style ... I looked the the reviews and - unless I missed it - did not find those two pieces ...I would just be using the basket.
I am looking for feedback or input on the quality of the basket hilts as well as historical accuracy .
Thanks in advance for your knowledge and expertise.

[Nathan Robinson]

Weird that Darksword calls those "late 16th century" and "early 17th century" models. They aren't.

The book from which the antique sword that the "late 16th century" model is copied dates the piece 1600-1650. This would be "early- to mid-17th century".

Ones with the same general appearance as the "early 17th century" model are dated 1700-1750. This would be "early- to mid-18th century".

Personally, I think both ranges are a bit early. The styles themselves are most likely contemporaries and dating 1680-1780 in my opinion.

With that out of the way, the models from Darksword are simplified and generally are of the shape and proportion of originals. Much of the three-dimensional shapes of the bars is missing, appearing to be cut out of a consistently thick sheet steel and having beveling or rounding added to give it some shape. The bars on originals are ridged and have, in some instances, a thick cross-section. The thickness of the hilt pieces should vary quite a bit from section to section due to each hilt piece being made individually and forge-welded together. The Darksword version isn't made this way and so gives a very different presentation. This gives a modern factory-made quality to the pieces they produce.

The biggest problem with their hilts is that they are simply too large to represent the norm of the style.

Having said that, it's the best you're going to get for a production model schiavona... despite them being only superficially historically accurate.

[Russ Ellis]

Just a thought and certainly not in the same price range I would guess, but would a Del Tin 5173 be a better baseline?

[Glen A Cleeton]

A link for the product

http://www.darkwoodarmory.com/index.php?main_...0l3f7dad64

Cheers

GC

[Tim Mathews]

Nathan, Russ and Glen,
Thanks very much for your responses ... Nathan I certainly agree with your assessment regarding the "factory made"appearance of the baskets and the lack of 3rd dimensionality of the pieces. I hope to be able to address that in the process ... As for the size issue I cannot get my hands into the majority of the originals I have had the good fortune to handle.
Again I appreciate your feedback.
Slainte !
Tim