[Scott Woodruff]

You are quite correct. Longer grips are not necessarily for use with 2 hands. They can simply be a way to improve balance and mass distribution in really long-bladed swords. There are several threads on myArmoury that discuss just this point. Part of the reason I want to make replicas of this sword type is so that I can do some experimental archaeology and learn what I can about their performance and make educated guesses about how they could have been used in period. I do not have particularly small hands, but I find that I am personally confortable with much shorter grips (either 2-handed or 1-handed) than others with similarly sized hands. Just a function of personal preference and my own style and expectations. I have friends who have huge hands and would barely be able to get one hand comfortably on a 12cm grip. I just made a knife for one of these friends that has a grip 16cm long and 12cm circumferance. He says it fits perfect!

[Luka Borscak]

Bruno, this sword really is fascinating. I would love to have something like it although it is blade heavy, because like Scott, I like having swords very different in handling so that I don't fall in generalizations like "all swords are balanced like fishing rods" or "all swords are heavy sharpened crowbars"...

P.S. The sword in my avatar is a one hander with 39" long blade and I love how it handles. It's not easy to handle but imagining it on a horse in a charge... Devastating...