Nydam-Kragehul spatha from Nydam.

[Damianus Albus]

Finally.
My Spatha is complet.
Biborski classifies it as Nydam-Kragehul, subtype 2 in his "Illerup Adal"; Miks as a Straubing-Nydam type.

Find has 720mm blade + 113mm grip; 57,5mm width
What is understable is that the grip is too short for XXI century people therefore it had to be overlong to 160mm.
As you can see, the grip is made from bronze. Unfortunately I couldn't get bronze grip. Nevertheless my wood/brass grip is based 100% on the bronze one.
If you take a look at the closer picks, you will notice beatiful texture of the metal. 100% forged.

[Robert Vermaat]

Brilliant!

[Longovicium]

Beautiful! What a spatha! Am I gushing? I think I am . ..

[M. Val. Naso]

"What is understable is that the grip is too short for XXI century people"

Why would it be? 16 cm is excessive even for those god awful viking buhurt swords.

[Damianus Albus]

Yes. It's 150-160 total.

If I grab somthing to my hand, I need 100mm just for a hand + 25/30mm for upper and lower part.

If it had total 113mm my hand would be not just in the middle section (but I would have to hold it somehow with lower and upper parts) or it would force me to sqeeze hande somehow between them (I can't imagine that).

Plus it is 10mm longer than it should becasue I'm planning to switch it for a bronze handle in next 2 years and if you want to change handle, it has to be at least 10longer if the first place.

[M. Val. Naso]

Not trying to be offensive or anything. But you're gripping it wrong.

We have three possibilities:

a) your hand is 140% of what another grown man had 1600-1700 years ago. This is very implausible. All around myself I see men of monstrous stature and shovel-size hands gripping 9-11 cm grips firmly and comfortably.

b) martial cultures had no idea how to make grips. Still not convincing.

c) You are not gripping it the right way. I have to say, this is logical. If you look at Nydam bog finds, then medieval arming swords, viking swords, eastern sabres, then early modern blades, you'll see, none of the one handed weapons go above ~11-12-13 cm, no matter the time period, and the overall shape of the grip.

[Damianus Albus]

Once again, if you want to replace hilt in the future the pin has to be longer thefore the handle has to be longer.

Unless will find me a craftsmen close to me who can rehilt without losing 10mm of the pin.

It has to be longer if you want to change hilt in the future.

There is a diffrence between for example 100mm longer blade and a bit longet handle since handle has to be comfortable for you and you can't use too small.

I mean, do we use armor for 160-170cm or adapted for 180-190cm?
Shoes for 39 or 45?
etc etc

[leonardo]

i like the pattern welded blade.

Concerning hand sizes there is much missunderstanding. Hand size depends a lot of the work the person has. I have been working with bolivian and amerindians in general which are quite short but if they work with their hands those are big. May be not long, but wide and strong. The average pre industrial person surely had big and wide hands. Look at the hands of a mechanic, a mason, a woodworker. My grandfather was 1,57 cm tall and have hands so wide that no watch could fit in his wrist. I am 1,84 cm tall and I have much much slimmer hands. But he was a farmer working in the fields since childhood and then a stonecutter.
It is the general consensus that all these grips are just long enough to have the hand firmly pressed against upper and lower guard.

[Damianus Albus]

So it is finally finished...
Top fitting is my own design.

[Robert Vermaat]

Not trying to be offensive or anything. But you're gripping it wrong.

May I suggest you try it out next week in Carnuntum?

[Robert]

This is really a wonderfull sword! Well done!! Great hilt, too. I have made a similar type grip for a sword of the same period, following the Original dimensions. When holding it, the best grip is a kind of handshake. The hand does not fit between the gaurd and the pommel, but the wide pommel rests against the base of the hand near the wrist. This allows good movement of the sword in cut, thrust and pary. Leaving 10 mm to be able to repeen the sword when changing the hilt is good sense!

[Damianus Albus]

Time to stop pointelss disscusion that "this is wrong grip because it's too big", becasue:
1. It's not.
2. I need extra 1cm to change handle for a bronze one in future.

[Robert]

Changing your grip on the handle will greatly improve the way you can handle the sword. In the picture, you are holding it the "classic" way, but if you rest the pommel against the palm of your hand (like a handshake), you will notice a big difference in how you can use the sword. Brilliant piece of work, wonderfull sword!

[M. Val. Naso]

but if you rest the pommel against the palm of your hand (like a handshake)

Aaaaaand this is were 10-11 cm grips come in the picture.

[Damianus Albus]

but if you rest the pommel against the palm of your hand (like a handshake)

Aaaaaand this is were 10-11 cm grips come in the picture.

Aaaaand tell me how you want to use 9cm handle? since you need to cut the bottom of the pin and hammer it again so it loses 10-15mm, when changing the the grip, so from 15cm I will have 12-13cm which is all right for but I hardly can imagine getting to 9,5cm from 11cm. Could you use 9,5cm grip? I don't think so.