I'll be cross-posting the same info to other forums. Scratch the webspace question, Jenn. I found a place to host the images.

Are you asking me to host the images or will you be hosting them on another website?

If you are asking me to host them I will, but you will have to send me the images and in turn I will send you the URL where they can be found.

Jenn

Number in catalogue 12023
Name Sword
Description Italy - 1460
Double-edged blade with one groove, straight quillons, fish tail-shaped pommel, wooden grip covered with leather. Blade 85 cm, breadth 45 mm, quillons 200 mm.

With a leather scabbard, a sword belt and straps.
Price 7 700,- about $220

In general, the sword felt much like a DT. The Weight felt about the same as my 87 cm DT2131 (roughly equivalent blade geometry but with a shorter hilt, and listed as 3pounds-6oz). COP was about 7" from the tip & COB was about 6" from the hilt. The blade is fairly thick, and the edges are rounded. A plus over Del tin, which leaves the edges square. There is a fairly good distal taper. It was a little blade-heavy, but not too bad when held 2-handed. Though fairly stiff, the blade was a bit "whippier" than the DT. The pics provide a close-up of the cross and a good look at the only think I don't like about the sword - the rough-milled blackened fuller.

The best part was the furniture. It was very clean & smooth, where DTs often are left fairly rough cast. I really liked the metal finish. The wrap was simple leather strip, glued on. Some room for improvement here.

The scabbard was quite nice. Metal throat & chape, buckles, belt & attchments ready to wear. The buckles are hand cast (signed), but don't seem period & could probably stand replacing. The attachment method might not withstand an "authenticity audit". I didn't get a chance to try it on to see how it fit.

In general, A good-looking piece, even better than del tins, except for the fuller and handle wrap. Don't know how it'll stand up to bashing. The owner plans to use it for demos, so I'll provide an update when that happens.

Are those picture place holders? No images are showing.

To post multiple pictures in the same post, it seems to me that based on the "place holders" you have the concecpt down.

[img] or [url] tag pairs and a carriage return will set up the spaces between images.

If you have control over the width of your images, please keep the pixel width to less that 600 otherwise it pushes the edge of the presets on the BB and people have to scroll to see the entire image from side to side.

Just a word about Free Websites. They generally do not allow linking to an actual picture file. We have had problems with Xoom, Angelfire, and a couple of others. If you need to show a picture, your best bet is to either send the images to me and I will place them in a directory, or you can use the UBB Code for URL and just place a link.

Jenn

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The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at a tempting moment.

Fiddling.... New host. Seems to work...

Fingers crossed

Thanks for the closeups. Enlightening.

I'm not sure about those fullers....hmmmmmm......

Are they milled? Are the blades milled? What steel? I looked at the website but can't find a mention.

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Cheers,

The fullers seem to have been milled horizontally, or, more likely, ground out. They are fairly deep, and uniform for their full length. There are fairly prominent grind marks running in them lengthwise, and the end of the fuller looks like the tool was lifted out at the end of the run. They are unlike a vertical mill, which leaves a half-circle at the end of the fuller. (like Kerry Stagmer uses)

This:
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Not this:
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Del Tin uses AISI 6150. Categorically, this is a hot rolled, medium to low carbon steel. Pending choice of alloy, the carbon is approx up to .5% by weight. One type of low alloy 6150 has about 1% Cr included. This steel has a very low sulpher and phosphorus content.

Lutel has been using 2 grades of steel. The one I've been able to decipher is CSN 14260 which relates to AISI 9245. This is a high grade construction steel with again a low carbon content. Lutel's second steel is primarily being used in their pole type weapons. They haven't said what and which but the CSN code they gave is in the same series in the first as a slightly different alloy blend. In another table, 14260 is translated to be a solid spring steel. The steel has been tempered to 50 HRC (Rockwell) similar to Del Tin's and they claim to have a high flexibility quality.

For people in certain industries, the Czech Repubic is a leader in moderate to high volume steel alloy production.

From what I had time to dig up, Lutel's choice of steel seems to be a blend of the properties of Del Tin's old Krupp KR55 steel with some improvements without sacrificing the steel's ability to withstand dings, etc.

Process: Lutel uses the process to shape and sharpen the blade on a grinding machine. The shoulder at the hilt and the tang are all one piece of the same steel stock. They did admit that some of their weapons have the guard and pommel chemically blackened. The grooves, however, are black due to tempering.

There's no question that this is still a higher volume production representation but it is hand fitted and does provide a better quality practice blade and one to learn with. Then move up later to a piece of workmanship such as Arms & Armor or a custom blade from a recognized smith such as Peter Johnsson. (Or others pending on what style, era and design you want.)

As a heads up, Lutel doesn't speak English. What I did was to translate into german which they translated and we struggled from there. You also have the challenge of payment which is either by international money order or by direct wire.

Hope this helps!

Peter

12" triangular Blade. Beefy! Very nice fi

[This message has been edited by JeffJ (edited 03-11-2nish on the dagger and sheath. Couldn't get the nut off to check the tang, but I don't plan on using it in any demo's, so that's not an issue.

Interesting feature on the sheath - there is a little tab or something on the ring that goes up inside the leather strap. This prevents the strap from rotating on the ring and should help stop the heavy-hilted dagger from tipping the sheath over & falling out.

BTW, Gauntlet is Hauptman's work.

I will post & review when I get the chance.

Ask them exactly what you want, they will tell you the price plus shipping.

J.

BTW horsefriend, I believe you mentioned in another post that you are an SCA Knight and you know one end of a horse from another. What Kingdom are you part of and what type of equestrian activities have you participated in?

I am a member of the SCA East Kingdom, and also a Knight in one of the offshoot re-enactment groups, and have done skill at arms and full contact tilting.

J.

[ 05-02-2001: Message edited by: jcesarelli ]

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Joseph

Alail

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