The funny thing is that, back in the day, getting the "right" sword for tournament or treatise may have been one of the reasons for variation, not monotony. It probably gave us those very long rapiers.
I think 60% of my speculation is due to my inability to just wave a particular sword around. Indeed, it's probably the best way to gain information.
I think you can see a particular trend in my approach. I try to get as many different perspectives in to fill in the gaps (some general, others just my own), try to include use and intent not just style and morphological aspects... and I also give up in the end and say THIS ONE and THAT ONE look and feel good for this or that style and I choose them because I like them more than others. Just that! :)
With the caveat that I am not able to make swords like you do... I agree that we probably have a similar approach.
P.S. Lucky for you... you have no idea how frustrating it can be when you have a visceral feel for a sword, and you cannot make it a reality. I can shave 10g from a Tod Cutler bough sword to get the feel right, but not do a sword from scratch. ;)
Indeed, it would be nice. Find pictures, find measurements, find a way to handle them. :)
There are a few articles on measurements of rapiers, some from Malta, which I think you had the chance to handle in person already. I am surprised by the amount of variation for key stats, such as weight, PoB, but also blade thickness (e.g. some long rapier blades were just 6mm thick at the base, and not 9mm as plenty others). It's a starting point, "small shifting of grammes" matters, but it helps me form a rough idea.
I am trying to find the same for sideswords. But if I exclude the composites from Wallace, and a few German ones that I think are more broadswords, we have fewer such studied examples.
Now, I was expecting to find cut-focused 1540s sideswords more around 11-12cm PoB, since their weight is larger compared to examples 100 year prior (e.g. the famous c.1432 single finger-ring example). To find 14cm or more PoB is a bit surprising, and I know of more towards 20cm than not. I am also seeing this tendency for blades to be more around 95cm than 90cm or below. I saw cut-focused blades as being shorter, and thrust ones longer. But no, long cut-focused blades seem to be a thing even in the 1500s.
At the same time, I was expecting to find thrust-focused sideswords with a PoB of around 14cm, but I find more around 12cm (a value also used by a lot of later rapiers).
Once I filter this information through use, it makes a bit more sense. Still, it challenges my preconceptions.
At this point, I do think we have a cut optimised version (again, it makes sense with a buckler or rotella), a thrust one (but it can still cut; everyday carry for flexibility of use?), and maybe a broadsword type (used more on the battlefield, maybe intended for cavalry). There's a variation, and we have an overlap, but I think we have different populations under the same sidesword label. All this means is that trainers for HEMA should also have more variation than just the typical 1150g, 90cm blade with a 10cm PoB.
The funny thing is that, back in the day, getting the "right" sword for tournament or treatise may have been one of the reasons for variation, not monotony. It probably gave us those very long rapiers.
I think 60% of my speculation is due to my inability to just wave a particular sword around. Indeed, it's probably the best way to gain information.
I think you can see a particular trend in my approach. I try to get as many different perspectives in to fill in the gaps (some general, others just my own), try to include use and intent not just style and morphological aspects... and I also give up in the end and say THIS ONE and THAT ONE look and feel good for this or that style and I choose them because I like them more than others. Just that! :)
With the caveat that I am not able to make swords like you do... I agree that we probably have a similar approach.
P.S. Lucky for you... you have no idea how frustrating it can be when you have a visceral feel for a sword, and you cannot make it a reality. I can shave 10g from a Tod Cutler bough sword to get the feel right, but not do a sword from scratch. ;)
Indeed, it would be nice. Find pictures, find measurements, find a way to handle them. :)
There are a few articles on measurements of rapiers, some from Malta, which I think you had the chance to handle in person already. I am surprised by the amount of variation for key stats, such as weight, PoB, but also blade thickness (e.g. some long rapier blades were just 6mm thick at the base, and not 9mm as plenty others). It's a starting point, "small shifting of grammes" matters, but it helps me form a rough idea.
I am trying to find the same for sideswords. But if I exclude the composites from Wallace, and a few German ones that I think are more broadswords, we have fewer such studied examples.
Now, I was expecting to find cut-focused 1540s sideswords more around 11-12cm PoB, since their weight is larger compared to examples 100 year prior (e.g. the famous c.1432 single finger-ring example). To find 14cm or more PoB is a bit surprising, and I know of more towards 20cm than not. I am also seeing this tendency for blades to be more around 95cm than 90cm or below. I saw cut-focused blades as being shorter, and thrust ones longer. But no, long cut-focused blades seem to be a thing even in the 1500s.
At the same time, I was expecting to find thrust-focused sideswords with a PoB of around 14cm, but I find more around 12cm (a value also used by a lot of later rapiers).
Once I filter this information through use, it makes a bit more sense. Still, it challenges my preconceptions.
At this point, I do think we have a cut optimised version (again, it makes sense with a buckler or rotella), a thrust one (but it can still cut; everyday carry for flexibility of use?), and maybe a broadsword type (used more on the battlefield, maybe intended for cavalry). There's a variation, and we have an overlap, but I think we have different populations under the same sidesword label. All this means is that trainers for HEMA should also have more variation than just the typical 1150g, 90cm blade with a 10cm PoB.