[Harry Marinakis]

Been a long time since I posted anything, a few years, but I'm back. Sorry I haven't responded to any messages.

I have a bronze sword project, and I am in need of ideas & suggestions.

I've had this Neil Burridge bronze rapier sitting around for almost 10 years, and I finally decided to do something with it. It is a Mycenaean Type Ci rapier. I obtained it from Neil when this sword was still in the development phase, and it came to me rough from the mold.

A little background of the process to get to this point, then I'll pose my question(s).

The original pommels were marble or ivory, neither of which I have, so I turned the pommel from African Ebony.

I used Greek Olive wood for the handle scales. I glued the scales to the handle and drilled the holes for the handle pins. Unfortunately, when I started rasping the handle to shape I broke into some large worm holes. So I had to patch and fill-in the holes. I used brass pins and washers instead of gold.

Neil Burridge Mycenaean Type Ci Rapier
OAL 30-5/8"
Blade length 24-5/8"
POB 4-7/8"
Weight 25.4 oz.

OAL 77.8 cm
Blade length 62.5 cm
POB 12.4 cm
Weight 719 g

The scabbard... Well, we all know that distinct lack of detailed information about Bronze Age scabbards. For this project I pieced together a scabbard using a variety of source. Very thin wood core, spiral leather wrap, brass locket with chasing, chape with a tassel.

I am stuck on the baldric strap. I made a 1-1/2 inch wide strap. I was going sew the strap onto the scabbard as shown, but that seems decidedly unsatisfying.

Got any ideas?

I was thinking of making a brass locket at the the throat with a ring behind the scabbard and hanging the scabbard vertically. Or even making two brass lockets to hang the scabbard more horizontally instead of the sewing the straps. I'd do this, but I don't see any evidence for rings on lockets.

Ideas? Suggestions?

One last question. I left the blade somewhat unfinished. I spent a lot of time grinding and polishing, but there are still a lot of pits and imperfections. How finished were these blades? Should I keep polishing, or leave it alone?

[Harry Marinakis]

I had a EUREKA! moment, and used mystery braids around the scabbard, to which I attached the baldric straps.

The project is complete.

[Chad Arnow]

Harry,
Good to see you again. While this is outside the periods I study, it looks great!

[Dan Howard]

Looks good to me. Neil does wonderful work. The tassel is a neat interpretation of the "knob" that we see on the bottom of scabbards in some illustrations. Illustrations show these swords being carried on a shoulder strap with the grip up high near the armpit. My guess is that it would make it easier to draw while carrying a large shield.

I'm not sure how much polishing is needed for the blade. We don't really know how smooth the original ones were since all extant examples have been in the ground for thousands of years. Anyone who owned one of these swords would have had a household full of servants to polish these things for him.

[Leo Todeschini]

Hi Harry,

Looks great and as with Chad, I know little about this period, but your solution looks great and is very plausible.

As regards the blade finish, again I cannot say for sure, but I am basically with Dan. Looking at period pieces from any period, a full polished finish appears to be common, but that does not mean it was like a modern flawless mirror. Casting pits, porosity, slag inclusions are all going to be issues on most castings. Many of which cannot be polished or ground out without removing a compromising amount of material. It would just have a been a fact of life that a piece like this may well have 99.5% perfection of finish, but the other 0.5% cannot be made perfect without ruining the piece. So you live with it.

This was certainly the case on many/most medieval weapons and armour where I am more familiar.

Tod

[Harry Marinakis]

[Dan Howard]

This is the first time I'm seeing a Mycenaean scabbard with a knob on the bottom of it. It clarifies a lot of their illustrations. Knobbed scabbards seem to have been common based on how many times they are depicted. One good example is the Pylos Agate; there are two being shown here.

[Matt Corbin]

Beautiful sword/rapier. Congratulations. Neil does the absolute best bronze work anywhere.