by Cian of Storvik 3/09 | |||||||
I had given my personal rattan rondel dagger to Talorc at Pennsic 37 for his back-up weapon. In under a year, it had taken some abuse and I wanted to replace it. I also knew Talorc was working towards making his Pictish armour more period looking. Since he'd been looking for "roman goods" which Picts of the period would have traded for or scrounged from battle field dead, I figured a later period Roman gladius would be good choice. This actually worked out well, because the gladius's of the 2nd century onward were shorter then older styles and a bit simpler in form.
This actually works out very well in appearance as for SCA weapons tend to have the blunt tip for thrusting, and it gives the appearance that the tip has snapped off.
This weapon started it's life as a pretty thick piece of rattan as a base. The grip was narrowed to 1" diam, which passes through a poplar guard and terminating in a 2 1/4" maple ball. The wooden parts were stained Minwax dark walnut and about 6 coats of varnish applied. Rather then route out the handle, I used the "twisted" duct tape method that many of the SCA fighters seem to like. It gives roughly the same appearance but is much easier to replace when it wears out. Over-all: 23" Blade width: 2" Blade length: 13" Grip length: 5 3/4" |
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