Storta! -- myArmoury.com

Leo Todeschini · Industry Professional

Hi All,

Sorry I had to add the '!' it is such a great name for a weapon and I feel it needs this.

Storta is basically the Italian name for a falchion, though of course with local styles and they remained popular in Italy into the 17thC, with ever increasingly weird and complicated blades.

I was commissioned to make this storta based on a piece sold by Fricker and the blade is based on elements from other storta. This is dated around 1600.

The sword has a single edged blade with a broad fuller and straight grind with a secondary bevel. The tip has two further fullers and a false edge on the clipped point. The guard is steel and the pommel is a hollow bronze fabrication. The grip is elm, covered in shark skin and has 6 steel decorative rods and steel ferrules at each end.

The stats are:

blade length 635mm/25"
overall length 810mm/32"
blade thickness at hilt 6.5mm/1/4"
blade thickness at clip 2.0mm/3/64"
POB 90mm/3.5"
weight 1300g/2lb,13oz

I hope you like it and if you have any questions please ask.

Regards

Tod

Lloyd Winter · Posted: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 4:22 pm Post subject:

Wow! That is stunning Tod. Absolutely stunning.

Mark Moore · Posted: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 5:05 pm Post subject:

Awww..............Gimme a break. Every time you post something new I WANT IT! That is flippin' awesome. Big Grin

....McM

T.F. McCraken · Posted: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 6:25 pm Post subject:

That is a beautiful falchion, Tod.
Sincerely, beautiful.

Yikes.

Murphy Cool

John T. · Posted: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 8:36 pm Post subject:

What a cool looking sword! And of course brilliant craftsmanship.
I am curious about that grip. How does feel to wield this?

Peter Johnsson · Industry Professional

Ha!
:-)
Renaissance exuberance!
A really wonderful piece Tod.

Julien M · Posted: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 11:42 pm Post subject:

Magnificent Tod...
It's great to see more of these, beside one example from A&A there are too little replicas of this types around. This looks straight out of the pages of Armi Bianche Italiane.
bellissima!

J

Jarno-T. Pälikkö · Industry Professional

What a sword! And especially, WHAT A HILT! Such a beautiful piece - once again!

...On the technical side, are the grooves on the guard file worked or how have you made them?

JT

Radovan Geist · Posted: Thu 03 Jul, 2014 3:00 am Post subject:

indeed, outstanding. that combination of materials blends nicely together.

Lafayette C Curtis · Posted: Thu 03 Jul, 2014 10:48 am Post subject:

Maybe you should have called it the iStorta instead, since somehow the lines of the design evoke the shape of modern "smart" gadgets to me. Not to mention that the short double fullers at the point really resemble the RSS logo.

Tim Lison · Posted: Thu 03 Jul, 2014 11:43 am Post subject:

Oh my! That is outstanding! I have always loved Stortas and wanted to see a good repro! Just gorgeous! Would love to see a nice scabbard to go with it...

Nathan Robinson · myArmoury Admin

I am crazy about this piece. These Renaissance period single-edged swords are super intriguing to me. This one happens to be beautiful, too. What a great commission.

Henry R. Gower · Posted: Sat 05 Jul, 2014 4:59 pm Post subject:

Tod,
This piece looks like it could have virtually "leapt" from a Mannerist canvas, a depiction
of Perseus with the head of the Gorgon, perhaps. Simply magnificent.
Henry

Matthew P. Adams · Posted: Sun 06 Jul, 2014 8:44 pm Post subject:

The cross guard might be my favorite component, looks like the precursor (or contemporary?) to ribbon hilted rapiers. And the accent lines only on the public side is one of those asymmetries that you see all the time in period pieces but can put off modern collectors. I really like that detail!

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Mon 07 Jul, 2014 2:51 pm Post subject:

Wow, what a beautiful piece. All of the elements really work well together: the blade's fullering, the detail work on the hilt, all simply outstanding.

Fabrice Cognot · Industry Professional

Fantastic. Simply fantastic.

Boris Bedrosov · Industry Professional

Outstanding work, as always!

Well, such blades are not in my "most favourite" group, but everything here - blade itself, guard, grip and pommel - are just impressive.

Leo Todeschini · Industry Professional

HI Everyone,

sorry for the delay in answering, I am just about to knock down the house and the site clearance took out my phone line.

Thanks for the great response, it really is very gratifying and Nathan, it was a great commission.

Jarno, I decided the cast this hilt and so I worked the firework into the wax rather than into steel in this instance.

Tim, unfortunately the budget will not stretch to the scabbard it should really have...... But it will have nice plain one that is fitting, if not bling enough and I will post up pictures in due course.

Matthew,

The original had a shell guard that the customer did not want, but yes you are right, it is the side that shows that was usually important and in most of my work I follow this principle - it helps to make the pieces ring true..

Again thank you all.

Tod

Leo Todeschini · Industry Professional

Tod wrote

Nathan Robinson · myArmoury Admin

YES! That completes it. Oh holy hell that is nice. The scabbard is lovely, too. What an excellent sword. I would love to be able to have the chance to handle it. Very nice work, Tod.