My ballock hilted shortsword

[Ahriman]

Ave!
This sword was a practice piece, I tried to use some new methods when making it. The unusual pairing (short and wide cutter blade on a hilt used on daggers) is a result of my chaotic mindset when making stuff I keep for myself. Originally I wanted to make it a baselard, but I changed my mind. The used materials are simply reused waste, because of this and that it's a personal keeper I didn't invest as much work as I'd otherwise do. The blade and the thicker steel inserts of the hilt are 1050 HC steel, the thinner plate on the "balls" is cold rolled mild, the darker wood is mahagony, the rest is plywood.
PoB is 4" from "quillons", weight is cca 500gramms. Cross-section changes from a stiff diamond into a flattened, rounded hexagonal. It's left unsharpened so I can both use it in practice against properly protected opponents and carry it according to the laws. Thickness is 8mm at strong, 3mm at weak. The fuller is not in center (I didn't really care).
Opinions are more than welcome.

 

[MA-Caver]

Overall looks real good...

uh, no comment on what the handle and guard looks like sans blade.

 

[Tez3]

Overall looks real good...

uh, no comment on what the handle and guard looks like sans blade.

but it's well named!

 

[terryl965]

but it's well named!

That it is.

 

[Ahriman]

This handle form was used for quite some time, (from 14th century to 18th century if we include the scottish dirk as a descendant, and from 14th century to 17th century if we stop at the dudgeon dagger) and intendedly looks like... what it looks like. So it's not my twisted mind, but of those warriors of old. Now add in that some wore it in front of their belt... At least I wear it on the side.

 

[Tez3]

Cool, Is it so you can hold it with your thumb between down the groove with fingers uppermost as if you were 'pointing' it at someone? Like a epee perhaps?

 

[Ahriman]

You could, though that method would need a more thrusting-oriented blade for ease of manipulation. This blade and the point of balance is of a cutter, so using either a handshake-grip or a hammer-grip is better. But it's definitely usable that way.
Those balls are just what it looks like. Most likely a politically-not-so-correct way to show off that you don't have problems there.
I simply like the design, and feel that it's too rarely replicated.
And a mercenary's sidearm can never be phallic enough as one of my friends pointed out...

 

[Tez3]

In past centuries people were not as coy or prudish as they tend to be now and the symbolism was there to say alot about people. Showing that you were virile would have been a positive thing in a time of people like the Medicis etc!

 

[tellner]

Ah, yes. This was the weapon traditionally carried by Scrotum, an old wrinkled retainer.

 

[Tez3]

Ah, yes. This was the weapon traditionally carried by Scrotum, an old wrinkled retainer.

Did he look like Baldrick and serve a master called Blackadder?



http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YSrx-XJ2EFQ