[Shane Allee]

It has been awhile since I've posted any updates or finished projects so it is about time I did. Over the Holidays Julie was able to work some with me and we just finished up this pompeii style gladius. We wanted to do something unique with it, so we had Mark at Ollin Sword Design make us a pompeii with the re-enforced point. Julie picked out some very nice figured claro walnut for the hilt. Ended up going through several guards trying to get one that good even figure on both sides. We need some sunlight to get some pictures that better show off all the figure. The grip is cow bone.





More pictures and information can be found here.
http://www.ironagearmoury.com/pompeiigladius.htm

After some time away from it, Julie also decided to finish her rondel dagger. It is a double edged hollow ground blade from Mark. English walnut for the hilt, steel plates, and red/ox blood leather covered grip.



More about this piece can be found below.
http://www.ironagearmoury.com/juliesrondel.htm

After looking over the site I realized that I didn't even have pictures of the last two shields that I've made. This hide shield was made back last spring. It is a British style of shield also called a horn shield. The shape and paint design are based directly from one of the votive shields.



This is my last shield that I made this fall. It is a La Tene III style shield as depicted on the Arch at Orange. Nate and I seem to have this whole bird theme going on with much of our stuff, so I had to jump on the shield that had the depiction of the twin cranes. The wave boarder was from one or two shields over, but I have always liked that as well.



Julie has also been talking about doing a re-vamp on the website, so there may be some changes of how it looks in the future. I've also started working on writing and drawing a little thing to help show people the different La Tene III styles of blades found at Port. We are trying to get ready for a event in March, so that might delay things a bit.

Thanks,
Shane Allee

http://www.ironagearmoury.com/

[Joe Fults]

Things look like they came out well.

[Barrett Hiebert]

Greetings,

Awesome job on the shields, and gladius Shane and Julie, your rondel looks sweet! Look forward to seeing more, and of the update of your website! Nice work! Cheers!

P.S. I especially like the shields!

Best regards,

Barrett Michael Hiebert

[James A. Vargscarr]

Agreed - I'm a big fan of the gladius in particular. I've always loved organic grips, and that's some beautiful hilt work.

[Michal Plezia]

I love that oxblood grip of your rondel! Do you have a scabbard for it?

[John Cooksey]

I love the the reinforced point on the gladius.
Great piece!

[Steve Grisetti]

The reinforced tip on the gladius is nice. Though it is historical, I don't recall seeing this feature on reproductions in the past. It looks like the buildup of the reinforcement is accompanied by a dishing or sort of a hollow-ground effect on the blade either side of the reinforcement. Am I seeing that correctly?

The rondel is a beauty. Nice blade, nice rondels, and the oxblood grip makes the whole thing a nice combination.

[Shane Allee]

Thanks everyone.

Very glad to hear that the leather on the rondel doesn't look strange. We weren't sure about doing the leather, then I dyed it while Julie was at work and I don't think it was really the color either one of us was thinking. Julie mentioned doing a leather sheath for it at one time, but it was something that we really didn't know anything about the correct way of doing a sheath or scabbard for something of this period.

Like you Steve I don't recall anyone doing a blade like this either, although I don't generally follow all of the Roman stuff that much. The original in the Guttman collection is probably the most well known, but it does have a thicker point. With the help of Nate I think we found two or three others at least. About the earliest was a Mainz or Fulham blade that was tinned and had a much more subtle re-enforcement. The others were Pompeii styled blades and although they were not in as good of shape they seemed to be somewhere between the other two. Maybe when Mark or I get to forging more we can give one a shot more like the Guttman collection gladius. This blade used two things to create the re-enforcement, the distal taper and the hollow grinding. The hollow grinding is of course the most visible and easiest one to photograph. The blade distal tapers down and then flares back out to almost the original thickness of the blade stock in the last bit of the tip.

Shane

[John Cooksey]

Just because it hasn't been done in a reproduction doesn't mean that it shouldn't be done . . .
There are tons of great historic prototypes out there that need to be reproduced . . .

I still remember Manoucher's akinakes/qama specimens from a few years back . . . if anyone could reproduce those for the western market, i would be "in" . . .
Short swords with reinforced points are "it" for me . . . .

[Steve Grisetti]

[Jeremiah Swanger]

[Shane Allee]

Thanks Jeremiah.

I wouldn't be the best person to answer much about roman arms really, and maybe someone could jump in and correct me if I get things too messed up. I was kind of under the impression that the Pompeii style in general was adopted more because it as easier and more simple to make rather than being superior to prior designs.

The re-enforcement is kind of a neat thing, I've messed about with it some with spear points. It doesn't really help penetration and if anything decreases it the more dense of target. So it isn't going to make much difference into soft squishy bits, but it seems to keep points from getting embedded into shields and/or bent while pulling them out.

There seemed to be some people other places that had a difficult time seeing the re-enforcement on this gladius, so I added a couple more pictures to help.



John is right that there are tons of gaps that should be filled because either people haven't attempted them or haven't done them correctly. The falcata is really one of these for me that I've been working on and might be getting reasonable close to happening. There are a ton of these gaps with the bog finds of the roman iron age and migration era. More and more everyday I'm getting more tempted to try one of the late Nydam swords with a single fuller and germanic hilts. Of course there is a ton of unique la tene stuff. The biggest problem for me is knowing if anyone would be interested in it after it is done.

Shane