[Jim B Williams]

My wife gave this sword to me this past Christmas. The sword is from G. Gedney Godwin (they outsource these). It's a very fantastic sword and the scabbard is a great fit. Fantastic deal for the money. Unlike many weapons outsourced overseas, the blade actually features a period maker's stamp (seen below). Google "British sword maker Samuel Harvey" and you can see the running fox mark on some period blades.

I made the baldric utilizing veg-tanned leather that has been "tanned" (a term which in the 18th century context often meant black leather - black leather accoutrements were typically "tanned" or dyed on just one side). The buckle is a reproduction of an original dug from a Continental Army site - very similar to many British buckles of the period. Brass buckle and iron tongue.

These pics feature some items from my late 1760's/1770's kit / which doubles as my hunting gear. The rifle is .50 caliber with a round-faced "Queen Anne" styled flintlock and an early brass "patch" box- very deadly to deer and squirrel alike. I made the horn and the shot pouch was crafted by James Rogers based on an original pouch with likely 18th century VA provenance. The buckle is based on one dug here in my home town. Home-made frontier-type pouches are difficult as it is hard to pin down a date on extant items, however professionally-made (by saddle maker for example) are easy with the myriad of hunting scene paintings from the period. I have home-spun pouches but this one is my favorite.

If anyone is interested, I can get a better picture of the knife in the picture now that I think about it. Made by Ken Hamilton. It is an absolute dead ringer for the prototypical circa mid-18th century English butcher/scalper knife. The blade profile and stone-ground finish is right, the Sheffield touch marks are right... Even the "cutler's cement" is right (brewer's pitch and brick dust mixed to fill in gaps and create a strong adhesive). Anyhow, this post is about the sword, so here goes:

[Eric W. Norenberg]

Jim,
Thank you for sharing this! I've seen Godwin's site before
http://www.gggodwin.com/default.asp

but the photographs of the items there leave a lot to the imagination, your photos show the details well enough to make me contemplate purchase... really more of a medieval guy but I love a good hunting hanger!

For anyone interested, Godwin's shop sells re-enactment gear aimed at the American Revolutionary period, War of 1812, and a bit of Civil War stuff... a fair bit of his camp and personal gear might work alright for earlier periods as well. And he has swivel guns. Yay swivel guns!

And I for one would love to see more of the butcher's knife, if its no trouble.

[Jim B Williams]

Eric, I had been looking for a good repro for a while and I would have had one commissioned - kyle willyard (olddominionforge.com) makes phenomenal blades and has made hunting swords - if I could justify it. Glad I got this one though, well worth the money.

You could easily fit this sword in a late 17th century/early 18th century context too, although my primary interest is a little later. The sword took an edge no problem. I didn't razor hone it, but it would do damage to a man or dispatch wounded game for sure.

I'll upload pics of the knife when I have a chance, tonight perhaps.

J

[Jim B Williams]

Eric, I'm putting the pics of the scalper on a separate thread, FYI.