Questions about the forging of a pugio and a balteus

[Matthew Amt]

Not sure why the buckle should end up at the back. On reliefs I've seen it either attached right next to the apron, so that the tongue end points to the left across the front (or hanging down next to the apron), or on the free end with the tongue end projecting to the right from the apron. Either way, if your belt isn't made too small, it shouldn't be too far around to the side. Oh, one tip is to make sure that the apron is as close to the end of the belt as possible, in other words that there are no plates to the right of it, between apron and either buckle or tongue end. (Does that make sense?)

This is all assuming that the belt closure is to the right of the apron, of course! With the pugio frogs on the left.

Valete,

Matthew