My custom sword from the Isle of Skye

**Teufel Hunden** · 31st January 10, 02:05 PM

I thought the rabble might appreciate something like this.

I like giving homage to various parts of my heritage. Obviously I have the Scottish part covered, so this one is the first piece made specifically for the other parts of my history, which is heavily Welsh (more specifically, Welsh folks living in and about Scotland). The sword is 38.5" long overall, and weighs ~2.5lbs.

Here's the handle section. My coat of arms is inlaid in the pommel there (silver coin), and I opted for the wire wrapped handle for durability. I'm glad I did, because the wire itself has a delicate and elegant look to it. I'm MUCH happier about it than I originally thought I'd be.

And the blade. While I'm not particularly religious myself, many of my ancestors were, and given the heavy religious influence over many periods of history, I thought it appropriate to have the blade etched with a biblical quote. I also thought, what better verse than Revelation 6:8, for an instrument designed to chop people's heads off?

Here it is, in Welsh.

The scabbard is wood wrapped in calf skin, with silver fittings.

I'm slowly building a display case for the whole ensemble. It's going to be laid on a decorative shield which I'm also building, and decorating. The finished product will be a full display case with a glass door, royal blue velvet backing, and a light or two.

Here's the shield so far. I'm going to forge some steel trim across the top and the bottom to give it that more "authentic" look.

And here's a very rough draft of my coat of arms, which I'll paint on the shield. Some of the gold colors will actually be gold leaf in the finished version.

What does everyone think?

**turpin** · 31st January 10, 03:05 PM

That's a fantastic piece of work! The handle and pommel are marvelous, as is he leather work on your sheath.

**svc40bt** · 31st January 10, 04:43 PM

Very nice all around. I particularly like the engraved blade.

**MacLowlife** · 31st January 10, 05:01 PM

Have you cleft / cloven anything with it yet?

**JSFMACLJR** · 31st January 10, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by Teufel Hunden

And here's a very rough draft of my coat of arms, which I'll paint on the shield. Some of the gold colors will actually be gold leaf in the finished version.

What does everyone think?

Shouldn't the mantling be Sable doubled Argent, instead of all Or? Is the bordure Or a cadency mark?

**MacLowlife** · 31st January 10, 05:16 PM

Of course, with a copier, you can reproduce anything in any size you like- and you may be a painter of considerable parts- but I would vote for a simpler presentation of the arms- maybe only the lion on the shield, no helm, no bordure, no mantling at all. But, speaking of that helm, might it not be supposed to be on a torse? "Or" ( ha) if that is a torse, ought it also not have two colors?

**Teufel Hunden** · 31st January 10, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by JSFMACLJR

Shouldn't the mantling be Sable doubled Argent, instead of all Or? Is the bordure Or a cadency mark?

Originally Posted by MacLowlife

Of course, with a copier, you can reproduce anything in any size you like- and you may be a painter of considerable parts- but I would vote for a simpler presentation of the arms- maybe only the lion on the shield, no helm, no bordure, no mantling at all. But, speaking of that helm, might it not be supposed to be on a torse? "Or" ( ha) if that is a torse, ought it also not have two colors?

Well I'll admit the style of the COA isn't my area of knowledge here. I've designed that particular one with an artist friend of mine, while doing some research to make it a bit more authentic. I'm open to suggestions of course.

MacLowlife: Originally it was going to be just the lion, but I decided to go with a full COA just to add to the whole theme of it.

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 31st January 10, 05:41 PM

About the arms:

Set as they are on a "cartouche" it is hard to tell just what the gold bit surrounding the shield is supposed to represent. Looking at the arms in the pommel the gold line seems too thin to be a mark of cadency-- perhaps it is merely a fimbration added to help unify the design.

The convention in British heraldry is to use the livery colours for both the mantling and the wreath; red and white mantling is often the default used by heralds when the liveries would take away from the overall design. When that happens the livery colours should be named in the blazon and depicted on the exemplification.

Generally speaking the helmet rests directly on the shield-- the exceptions being when a cap of maintenance or a coronet of rank is placed on the shield, then the helmet "issues" from that devise. The torse sits on top of the helmet, immediately below the crest. It's original purpose was to hide, and to some degree protect, the laces that secured the crest to the helmet.

I agree with MacLowlife that a simple presentation of the arms would be better, especially as the arms in the pommel of the sword do not appear to be hatched to show their true colours.

Since the arms are: per fess sable and argent a lion rampant counterchanged, (the whole fimbriated or?) I would suggest that you consider going with red and white mantling to avoid making the achievement look "washed out".

**Teufel Hunden** · 31st January 10, 06:17 PM

Interesting post McMillan.

You and MacLowlife now have me thinking again about it just being the lion on the shield. I wanted the whole idea to be more heraldric, but having just the lion on the shield doesn't necessarily make it not so. It'll have plenty of detail with the iron trim on the shield, the display case, and the velvet backing, so maybe the full COA look would detract from the sword itself, which is supposed to be the center piece.

I'll mull over this with my nightly scotch..

**JSFMACLJR** · 31st January 10, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown

About the arms:

Set as they are on a "cartouche" it is hard to tell just what the gold bit surrounding the shield is supposed to represent. Looking at the arms in the pommel the gold line seems too thin to be a mark of cadency-- perhaps it is merely a fimbration added to help unify the design.

The convention in British heraldry is to use the livery colours for both the mantling and the wreath; red and white mantling is often the default used by heralds when the liveries would take away from the overall design. When that happens the livery colours should be named in the blazon and depicted on the exemplification.

Generally speaking the helmet rests directly on the shield-- the exceptions being when a cap of maintenance or a coronet of rank is placed on the shield, then the helmet "issues" from that devise. The torse sits on top of the helmet, immediately below the crest. It's original purpose was to hide, and to some degree protect, the laces that secured the crest to the helmet.

I agree with MacLowlife that a simple presentation of the arms would be better, especially as the arms in the pommel of the sword do not appear to be hatched to show their true colours.

Since the arms are: per fess sable and argent a lion rampant counterchanged, (the whole fimbriated or?) I would suggest that you consider going with red and white mantling to avoid making the achievement look "washed out".

I don't think that Scottish arms now go by the "default" mantling of gules and argent; only the Irish are still limited to this restriction. That being said, mantling gules doubled argent would add a nice touch of colour to the arms in question, no?