02-13-2010, 05:13 PM
Quote:Matt I made my Mainz/Pompeii at that thickness at 9mm about 20 years ago, and even if you had arms like Arnie they are just too blade heavy. I also read the reports hence why I did this. When I finaly saw pics of the blades you soon see that the measurements are of coroded blades and the measurements are thus. The sword of Tiberus is 10mm and a sword from Dura is 14mm. ... Now that is not to say that blades could not be thicker than 5mm but if you look at the non ferrous fittings that gives you an idea of the blade thickneses. again very rare the give the hole size for the tang ect on the hand gaurd plate. Also I have a pommel nut which is just under 5mm thick hole for the tang.
Well I don't find thick blades too heavy and since Roman tactics generally prescribed thrusting, the weight is not such an issue, no? Plus a trained soldier surely wouldn't have a problem. And I am going by non-ferrous fittings- primarily guard plates. Because they're closest to the blade and I expect they should be the most telling of the blade's thickness since it is best for them to be relatively tight-fitting, and I also looked at the guards and pommels from Vindonissa, which too bear out the thick nature of the blades; their fine decoration is intact, thus one should be able to expect the blade holes are equally undamaged. Using a pommel nut seems to me to be problematic in that the end of the tang is of course going to be thinner than the blade, and clearly there are numerous examples of swords showing the end of the tang made quite small to accept a nut. Why exactly do you think the guard plate won't work (if I understand correctly that this is what you're saying above)?
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