[Leo Todeschini]

HI All,

10 years ago now I saw this original thread and just loved the concept......http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=24845&highlight=scabbard+quiver

The concept appears very simple; fit your quiver onto your scabbard and it will condense your kit. However even with a broad bladed weapon the quiver is still very small and so cannot fit many bolts. In a hunting context this makes complete sense to me, but in a military context, its purpose is not clear.

Seeing as I make films for YouTube and this is interesting, I thought it a great opportunity to raise the profile and importance of myArmoury, whilst exploring what the whole thing is about. https://youtu.be/TE6wYBYqJFQ

Of the pictures shown, two are hunting, two are military and three have the quiver on the right - a fact I shamefully overlooked in the film, where I concentrated on drawing from the left. That does leave the possibility that the guy wearing the 'quiver' on his left was left handed, which I feel is unlikely. So from a sample size of two I don't feel we can draw a definitive conclusion. However what I did was try to shoot using the quiver. Mounted on the left side on the sword it was awkward whilst the better position would be on the right hip, but this makes drawing the sword difficult - one or the other functionality will suffer.

What is very clear though from my re-creation and the images is that they carry very few bolts and less than would be required for sustained shooting, so they cannot be a primary store for an engagement. This, combined with their awkward location (assuming the sword is required to be drawn easily) means their function is a little different and in this film I postulate it is for 'specialty' bolts. A concept modern soldiers often use to separate their specific ammunition and as I always point out, people are the same and the problems they face, in broad terms, have remained the same.

The sword is made from CS70, the hilt fittings in mild, with an ash grip and leather wrap. The scabbard is poplar with leather over, bronze chape, leather belt with copper and bronze fittings. The quiver is ash with leather covering and all cordage is hemp.

Overall weight 1100g/2.4lbs
Blade length 71cm/28"
Width at hilt 46mm
Width at 'peak' 76mm
Thickness at hilt 6mm
Thickness at 'peak' 2.9mm
CoG 100mm from guard
CoP around 50cm/19" from guard

Please feel free to comment on the sword, scabbard, quiver or indeed the film or my conclusions.

The sword and rig is available here https://todsworkshop.com/collections/in-stock-historical-swords-daggers-crossbows/products/falchion-scabbard-and-quiver

Thanks

Tod

[Bill Grandy]

Man, I remember the original thread, and it definitely doesn’t feel like ten years…

Anyway, enough old person talk. I really loved the video, and that’s a really fascinating theory about why the right side carry is conceivable. And it’s a BEAUTIFUL sword and rig!

[Jeff Cierniak]

Sounds like a logical enough explanation to me! In a hunting context I could see a small amount of the same type of bolt being logical, but that still doesn't solve the point about the placement being a bit awkward.

Beautiful stuff, by the way. You always really make the past come to life with your fine work.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Just speculations on my part commenting on your speculations:

A) When hunting a fast reload may not be as needed as in warfare, most of the time, so a slower and/or awkward retrieval of a bolt might not be as important ?

B) You may not have found the best way to switch hands or make the retrieval less awkward ? Practice doing it differently than with the usual place to put the bolt quiver on your belt.

C) Maybe doing things in a different order: First retrieve the bolt put it between your teeth and then span the crossbow ?
This could be useful for the fastest reload possible when hunting dangerous game at close range like wild boar ?

The same technique might be applicable in warfare: Get the bolt first and then span ?

Note I agree that the secondary quiver on the falchion scabbard might also be for selected high quality bolts that a crossbowmen might use for best accuracy, or for specialized bolts for war or hunting purposes, while his main quiver would be for the supplied generic bolts that might not aways be optimized for each and every crossbow, but a good enough compromise for the average draw weight of the crossbows used by a unit of crossbowmen ?


I did see this Youtube video a few days before you posted it here, and that you gave a very good shout out to "myArmoury" having a valuable data base worth supporting with a donation of money.

In the Donation thread you do mention that GOOGLE searches about historical weapons often have a "myArmoury" posting in one of the top suggested links, and I can confirm this from previous experience, although I haven't done any testing as you suggested.

Leo Todeschini: