How to wear a basket hilt

[Sir Didymous]

Okay, I finally broke down and bought a basket hilt claymore. I've wanted one since I was a teen, but since it doesn't fit within any of my current reenactment portrayals I have just let it go. This year my wife and I decided to just spend our income tax return on whatever (frivolous, but we try to be conservative most of the time). Taking this rare opportunity whilst available, I picked up this lower end model. It was cheap, but it looks nice; and I have no need of a functional piece. I don't really intend to wear it to anything other than maybe a costume party or two, but I would like to know how to go about wearing it. I have skimmed the threads on here and in some other places and all I can find is information on the leather scabbard variety. As can be seen in the picture, this one has a metal scabbard with side rings. I don't know that there is any historical precedent for this. I have thought about just getting a hanger that attaches to my dirk belt, but that just seems wrong as these swords were normally carried on baldrics. Another thought I had was to pick up a AmCiv era cavalry officer's belt (which has a cross belt attached to prevent the sag associated with wearing a saber) and just changing the buckle. Again though it just doesn't look right in my mind's eye. So are there any relevant pieces of information that I have over looked? Is there an historical precedent that I am missing? Any thoughts, tips, ideas, opinions, or information would be much appreciated.

[Dileasgubas]

Here is the current regulation manual from the Royal Regiment of Scotland:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...nsHandBook.pdf

Dress 1A is with basket hilt sword.

If you hang your sword on the kilt belt it will be awkward to draw: "kilt" belts are worn higher than sword belts which sit at the natural waist. This is likely due to the requirement to support the weight of the sword on either the hips or shoulders.

The sword would ideally hang on left side, supported by the right shoulder, with the strap running under the epaulette to keep it in place. The dirk would hang from the belt on the right side.

One caution: a leather belt can sometimes rub shiny spots on cloth fabric, a complaint from some of the drummers in our band. Of course, for occasional wear you should be fine.

Hope this helps.

[Geoff Withnell]

This should do the trick for you.

http://www.kultofathena.com/product....e=Sword+Hanger

I use this to hold my 1840 NCO sword, since I don't have a basket hilt.

There's no real reason you can't hang your sword from your dirk belt. It is possible that, depending on the length of you sword and the length of your arms, drawing the sword MAY be a little awkward with the belt at kilt waist.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Best worn from a baldrick.

[ShaunMaxwell]

You can purchase a baldric from Bold Blades. I've had good experiences dealing with them in the past.

http://www.boldblades.com/html/basket_hilts.html

[Sir Didymous]

Thanks for the replies. The dress regulations were an interesting read. It reminded me a bit of the fair deal of the USN manuals that my father used have me read. Geoff, I have a similar rigging for my long sword. It makes my belt sag like mad and thus I use my double wrap sword belt. I don't know how it would work with the basket hilt as it weighs more than the long sword. Now that link to the baldric has my interest piqued. I have figured that there had to be a style to accommodate this type of scabbard, but I for some stupid reason didn't think to check modern regulations or specialty shops. I guess my weapons knowledge is a bit too specialized for the periods I reenact.

[OC Richard]

I have a military-type hanger.

It has two straps, long and short, on a big ring. The sword can hang from the straps, basket high and to the front, tip low and to the rear.

The hanger also has a big hook, the purpose of which is to 'hook up' the sword by one of the rings on the scabbard. When hooked up the basket is high to the rear, the tip is low to the front, in other words reversed.

The Scots Guards pipers are the only ones in the Army today, as far as I know, who wear swords.

Here's the best photo I could find, on the House of Labhran site



here you can see the swords worn reversed



Here's my kit, back in the 80s, showing my sword hanging from the slings. I can also 'hook up' like the Scots Guards PM above



Here's a different pose that day, the sword unhooked, where you can see the slings



This is the closest photo I could find to what I use. It's not Scottish at all, but I think a US Civil War type thing. But it works!



All Highland officers wear white sword belts; they're a fairly complex thing. Here you can clearly see the front officer's sword 'hooked up' with the slings loose, not supporting the sword's weight, though not reversed



This is from the Replicaters (sic) site; they make these reproductions of Highland officers' white sword belts, complicated things as you can see. Each end of the crossbelt tapers and goes into its own brass ring; the two rings are connected by a short more-or-less horizontal connecting belt; from the front ring descends the short sling, from the rear ring the long sling. The front ring also often has the hook suspended from it.



Oddly, Highland Drum Majors often wear a sword but usually not the sword belt (save for the Gordon Highlanders). Their sword slings are attached to the waistbelt, and depend on the support hook on the doublet to keep from sagging.