show off your gladius

[maius]

Great looking swords Caballo, as are most of the impressive swords i've seen here. I have two inexpenssive swords so far, but maybe someday...

Maius/bill

[Crispvs]

Here is the handle of my new sword. Sorry about the quality of the photos - they were taken with a mobile phone. No scabbard at this stage but I'll post up a picture of it as soon as its finished.





Crispvs

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Hey now that is nice work Crispus!! Beauty!!!!

Are you bringing that to Corbridge!?

[maius]

I agree with Gaius Julius Caesar, that looks fantastic!

Maius/Bill

[Chris B]

A little late, but here is my Albion "Allectus" Gladius with a scabbard by Christian Fletcher.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Very sweet man!

[maius]

I agree, outstanding gladius!

I'm gonna have to post some pictures of the two i'm working on when their finished.

Maius/Bill

[Chris B]

I really enjoy it. I have used it for Tameshigiri and the Mainz design actually cuts quite well. Obviously it is not as robust as a Katana or larger sword, but it does very well for its size. I also understand that the Gladius was more of a thrust weapon, but the Mainz still has enough wasting to cut. On the thrusting side, it slides right into a target with ease. :-) )

[Magnus]

Are you a big JSA'er Chris? What school?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I'm havinga scabbard made for mine as we speak!! Alectus rocks! 8)

[Chris B]

I have been in various forms of martial arts for 25 years. I studied Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido (which is the only martial art that I have studied that focuses on the sword exclusively) for a year until recently because I have not had much time. I plan on picking it up again soon when my life calms down, but the majority of my training time is spent with Miletich Fighting Systems right now in Houston, Texas. I also would love to pick up some Western Martial Arts in the near future as well. Just not enough time to take it all in now days.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

What kind of targets are you refering to Chris?

[Chris B]

We use beach mats and tatami mats. They are a fairly standard cutting medium for Martial Arts. They are basically rolled mats that may or may not have a small dowel in the middle to use for test cutting. They sit on a stand that puts them at body level.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

OK, I'm familiar with those, just had visions of sides of pork or beef hanging on a post.... :lol:

[arklore70]

A picture of my Albion Twins.

Both Gladii are Albion First Generation Gladii.

On the Pompeii Style Gladius I did nothing to the blade. On the scabbard, I redid all the leather work on it. It originally came with a maroon colored leather. I have since replaced, dyed and colored it a sky blue. The blue leather seems to contrast nicely with the brass work making a better presentation IMHO. You may notice a few pieces of brass work missing. This has been from a couple of years of traveling by air to events, as well as some just good old fashioned closed order battle drills. It is now the reason that my gear is insured with a relatively low deductible. I am sure after a campaign or ten similar wear and tear, if not more so would have occurred.

On the Mainz Style Gladius, I have very carefully unsharpened the blade by hand. My butter knives now have a meaner edge, and the edge is comparable to what you can expect to see from a Deepeeka blade when you first buy it.

The scabbard was made for me by Robert Wear from Legio V out of TN. Its solid and the Mainz will now be my primary traveling gladius for the near future. I dyed the leather mariner blue. Current research leans to all discovered Mainz scabbards having full plates on the exposed side of the scabbard. We deliberately opted to not due this at this point due to time and cost. At some point, I plan on adding the plates, but that is a future project.

Both blades are extremely well balanced and I am quite positive that they meet or exceed all design expectations of the ancient world.

The Albion Twins will be joined by a custom made Fulham Gladius in the future. When that custom job is complete, I will be posting pictures of that as well.

V/r
Mike