Best Gladius for the money

[Sextus Saturninus]

Ave! I am deciding whether to upgrade my gladius and am considering a pugio to complete my military kit ( excluding camp gear ). The dagger that I am looking at is the Oberaden pugio from SOTW. The sword is the SDK 1171 gladius that seems good but I am not sure yet, and would like to here from you guys before I place an order. I also have limited money so if you guys suggest another gladius or pugio, please remember that I cannot afford nice custom work.

(P.S. I already know about the baldric problem and am going to change it or modify it if I decide to get the sword).

[Sextus Saturninus]

Hello? Does anyone have suggestions? :-( I would really like to know your opinions!

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Hi there,

SOTW has excellent Gladii, I personally have the Hardwood Magnus Gladius, and Rusty just added three new ones, including a Mainz.

As for the Baldric, if you buy a SOTW baldric I recommend you take the hook piece off and sew the leather together, as that actually belonged to a horse bridle.

The Deepeeka Gladii aren't bad AFAIK, depending on which one you get.

It would help to know what time period you are looking to represent?

EDIT: I'm not sure if Find-it-Guy is still in business anymore, so I don't know if those SDK Gladii are still available.

[Sextus Saturninus]

For your question of what time I represent, my main impression is an Auxiliary spearman stationed on Hadrian's wall in 136 ad. I also have a few other minor impressions, but this sword is for my primary Roman Auxiliary one. I have found a few of the SDK swords being sold, some used and some brand new ( I guess that the company that made the swords still produces them, even if Find-it-armory is closed. The site is still up and running but I cannot find any of the SDK models. I have heard from various sources ( Matt Amt, some forum posters, and other sources ) that it is a nice sword, but that the baldric is awful. What do you think of the SOTW pugios?

[Pointer]

There are two age old sayings you need to consider before making your purchase.

1. "You get what you pay for". If you want something really worth having, then wait and save up a little more money and get something of quality. however, if you want junk, buy junk. This blade could possibly get by in a theatrical stage play but there isn't much good use other then that. It is very over weight and unbalanced.

2. "Patience is a virtue". Whatever you do... don't rush what you are doing for the sake of "Hurrying" to have your kit completed. Research what is out there and what is available. Much of the swords made in India lack just about everything if you want something historically accurate.

Do yourself a favor. Turn in your pop cans and bottles... go without that candy bar and save a lithe money to get something that is good quality, made correctly, and is accurate.

Just about all of us here will admit... We all rushed into purchasing stuff that is junk, because we wanted to take the quickest route to finishing our kit and we didn't know any better! (Well maybe we did... we just didn't listen to the answers to our questions.... we jus heard what we wanted to hear.... then went out and wasted our time and money on Junk).

Remember... you asked... so listen to those who will help you reason it out.
Hope this helps

--Patrick

[Sextus Saturninus]

Patrick,

Do you have any ideas about better swords to buy? I have SOME money, I am not totally broke and I have around $130 to spend on a nice gladius. I do not want a Deepeeka, since almost everyone in my unit has one, so I will either get the SDK or a Evocati gladius by SOTW unless you think that there is a better sword for the money out there.

Post back soon and thanks for your advice!

[Robert]

He Jason,

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to be a spoilsport, but there is no way you are going the find a decent sword with that sort of budget. So indeed Patrick's advice should be heeded IMHO. SWOT sells mostly Indian made sword shaped iron objects. Evan is their webmaster, so perhaps not the best of objective advisors to set your compass on. Have a look at the Legio XX website, their Legionairs handbook has a good section on what to be on the lookout for http://www.larp.com/legioxx/hndbk.html

[Sextus Saturninus]

Robert,

The sword is on the list of acceptable swords on the Legio XX website. They say it has some problems that are mainly minor ones and that can be fixed with little modification. I will make the blade lighter and I am a good brass and bronze worker, so I will make plates for the scabbard and for the guard. Overall, I am looking for a good project that has potential to make a good sword.

[Robert]

In that case, it is a real pity Dave Akkers has disappeared, as he made nice blades at a very good price! Then you could have made the fittings for the scabbard yourself, making something both correct and affordable. As I have acces to Miks book on swords, I may be able to help you with pictures and measurements. The blade is only the start of a good sword. You may even consider buying a blade blank and making the rest yourself!

[ANTONIVS MAGNVS]

And Patrick can make you a nice pommel and grip!

[Sextus Saturninus]

Do you know about how much it costs to get a nice blade ground from stock for you? That might be the best option, getting the SDK, using it for parts for new scabbard, trashing blade.

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Yeah, I am the SOTW webmaster. I consider SOTW as probably the best for the price range, and Al-Hamdd is improving as Rusty works with him. But they do have their flaws.

I always say get something custom if you can, or do it yourself if you have the skill and time.

Doing stuff myself though has taught me to just go online and spend the money to have someone else do it for you.

[Robert]

But then you would not get a great product, unless you are willing to fork out the cash for good workmanship. I would advise Jason to NOT buy an off the shelf item if he is good with bronzeworking, as the plates take up most of the time. It is not really all that hard to make a good grip from scratch if you can source some good wood (Romans use a lot of boxwood, which is very expensive, but Patrick achieves amazing results with the also correct holy) and indeed Patrick is a Master Woodcarver who makes very nice handles. Forget about the wood-bone-wood dogma, many swords would have had all wooden handles, with just the pommelnut and perhaps the guardplate (NOT correct on a Pompeii blade) made of bronze. Albion sells blank blades, even though I am not a big fan of Albion as they do not adhere to authenticity as much as they could.
A scabbard body is not all that much work using the correct wood, like linden/basswood. It is soft, nice to work, authentic and with tools like a belt sander easy to shape once you have made a fitting cavity (I use a router and then rounded chisels and course sandpaper to make it). Just buy two boards about 1 cm thick of the correct length.

PS on the SDK blade, most Indian blades are too thick and lack distal taper, so you will have enough steel to work with to improve the blade. Just make sure it is full tanged and does not have a threaded rattail welded on, as that does make a "sword" best trashed. But even then, if the steel is moderatly good, you can make a nice dagger from it :-) I just had a look at the SDK 1171 gladius, it has so many issues it makes the eyes water! Waste of money, unless the blade is a full tang.

[Sextus Saturninus]

I could grind down one of the SDK blades to get the right weight, and I could shorten the grip and modify the half tang on it so it peens over the pommel of the sword, making it very strong. I also do not need it to be the most durable in the world, since my group has swords for training ( we do not swing our nice ones at trees and I have heard that some deepeeka swords will break if you swing them too hard). The scabbard looks good, the grip will be modified, the baldric will be ditched, and the scabbard redone. Those are the modifications I will do to it to make it nicer but do you guys have any other suggestions or can you guys give me an estimate for a ground Pompeii blade

[Sextus Saturninus]

Thanks for the posts Robert and I am going with your suggestions on how to improve the sword. I have some thin brass and I am going to redo the scabbard by putting tinned and engraved plates made in my workshop in the open spaces on the scabbard of the gladius, making it look similar to one of the nice scabbards . The blade will be ground and the grip is too long so I am modifying by shortening the grip to the size that the originals had, letting me cut the welded half of the tang off and peening the tang over the back of the pommel. It will be very nice when it is done and I will post photos once I figure out how to put up a picture!!! :?