Last weekend we were in Prague on re-enact. event and I´ve picked a blade from Stanislav "Had" Elias (http://www.mece-had.cz/). I already have some of his weapons and I really like them - they are durable, with good proportions, and nice attention to details.

However, this time I wanted a good blade for DIY project - a sword that would fit to end of 14th/beginning of 15th Century. A blade I bought would be perfect for Type XVII sword. I´ve made a small research and decided for something similar to City of Bristol sword - it fits the proportions of my blade, fits my period of interest, and has my favourite pommel design.

Now the question: I went through some picture of surviving type XVII swords from that period and it seems that their pommels and crosses had smooth surface. However, I would love to decorate it with some file-work (checkboard, or a spiral on the cross). Would it be out of place? Does anybody know any historical example? Thanks in advance.

Radovan, is your sword finished? If it's finished, do show some of its photos.

Well, it´s not finished yet - I´m still in the research phase :) When I start the project, I will try to make it into a separate DIY thread.

I´m still researching whether it would be completely out of place to make file-work decoration on crossguard and pommel.

I don't think there's any filing on the XVII swords from Records. Beyond that, I cannot say.

fileworking of a spiral sounds very off to me, but faceted file-work is perfectly appropriate, like this example's cross:

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-t...&img=3

thank you for your comments and a nice picture. yes, spirals are off for that period, no trace of "check-board" decorations on originals either, so I will opt for a simple design, with some faceting. Now I´m quite busy with some work on our house and in the garden, but once I´m done with it - back to the workshop! :)