Length of 15th century Falchions -- myArmoury.com

William Knight · Posted: Mon 22 Nov, 2010 6:23 pm Post subject: Length of 15th century Falchions

Does anyone know the approximate range of lengths one would see in 15th century falchions? I am specifically thinking of the cutlass-like ones with the knucklebows, rather than the cleaver-like ones.

-Will

Scott Woodruff · Posted: Sat 27 Nov, 2010 8:56 am Post subject:

A general answer for a general question- around 2ft, 60cm. There is a tremendous amount of variation in 15th century falchions and related weapons. I personally am starting a project making a 15th century English archer's sword, one of those sindle-edged, pointy deals with the s-shaped guard forming a knuckle-bow and hammer-head pommel. You can see what I'm talking about in the hammer-headed dagger thread. I can,t find the exact measurements at the moment but it has a 24" blade and weighs under 2lbs in excavated condition. Another example I really like from England has a similar guard and a pommel shaped like a boar's head and a wide, straight, single-edged blade measuring 29". Most of the Italian falchions I know of have blades that are close to 24". Tell me more specifically what type you are interested in and I'll dig up whatever info I've got.

Luka Borscak · Posted: Sat 27 Nov, 2010 9:01 am Post subject:

That means just the blade length is usually at least around 2 feet, overall length of a falchion would than usually be around 30" probably?

William Knight · Posted: Sun 28 Nov, 2010 10:06 am Post subject:

Thanks Scott, that's exactly what I was looking for. I'm in the market for a 15th century English archer's sword and I wanted to make sure that I got one of an appropriate length.

Scott Woodruff · Posted: Sun 28 Nov, 2010 6:44 pm Post subject:

William, check out the '14th century short sword' and '14th century single-edged sword' threads for some cool examples with hilts like double-edged swords. Are you looking for a custom job or production piece? Do you want a hammer-head/lugged pommel, round or square-pommeled like the examples illustrated in the 'Louis de Bruges' copy of Froissart's chronicles, or boar-head pommel? Are you looking for an extremely historically accurate "real weapon", a re-inacting blunt, or something inexpensive that will reasonably fit the bill? One detail often overlooked on replicas of the "wakefield type" is the presence of a nagel-like side bar on the cross. I don't know if it actually is a through-riveted nagel or just a sidebar. I am still in the process of setting up my new shop, but the next two years of shop time will be primarily devoted to "archers' swords" and long "archers daggers."

William Knight · Posted: Mon 29 Nov, 2010 7:07 am Post subject:

I'm kind of looking for a 'best buy' -- an accurate sword for living history that can be had for my rather small post-college budget. I wanted something blunt enough that I could do some light reenactment combat with it but not a full-on reenactment blunt. I wasn't planning on test-cutting with it. I think the term for the pommel I was looking at would be a 'boar-head pommel,' if that's the forward-swept one.

To give you an idea of what I was looking at, I was considering the Armourclass Medieval Falchions for 200 pounds.

Sean Flynt · Posted: Mon 29 Nov, 2010 7:41 am Post subject:

You have to consider thickness as well, and that data is MUCH harder to find.

Scott Woodruff · Posted: Mon 29 Nov, 2010 9:07 am Post subject:

Aaargh! Tell me about it Sean! Finding information about that crucial third dimension is tough.

William, the boar-head pommels are basically just hammer-head pommmels that have been chiseled into a crude likeness of a boar, with little ears and a bit of shaping to the snout but no details (that I can see from photos.) The replica you showed looks pretty similar to MRL's offering. I have no experience with armorclass, but that looks good for the applications you specified. It looks about as historically accurate as you are going to get for that price>keyboard malfuntion<post interrupted>

Sean Flynt · Posted: Mon 29 Nov, 2010 9:16 am Post subject:

FWIW, here are the stats for the "Thorpe Falchion":

Alan E. West, Curator of Archaeology for Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, has generously provided the following additional information about the Thorpe Falchion. I've added inch and pound conversions in parentheses.

Measurements and Specifications of Original:
Weight: 904g (1.98 pounds)
Overall length: 956mm (37.6")
Blade length: 803mm Blade (31.6")
Blade width: 48mm (1.8") at hilt
Max blade width: 56mm (2.2") at 225mm (8.8") from tip
Blade thickness: 2.5mm (.09") max thickness
Guard width: 196mm (7.7")
Guard thickness: 9mm (.35") at blade
Grip length: 100mm (3.9")
Pommel Width: 148mm (1.8")
Pommel Length: 44mm (1.7")
Point of Balance: 243mm (9.6") from end of pommel

Blade notes: Single fuller of 1.5-2mm (.05"-.07") width runs 5mm (.19") parallel to back of blade on one side of the blade only. False edge appears to have same bevel as true edge.

Luka Borscak · Posted: Mon 29 Nov, 2010 9:24 am Post subject:

I think somebody stated that the 2.5mm maximum thickness is not correct. It was when Chris Artman got custom Thorpe from Christian Fletcher...