Why historical research matters
This is the sixth part of an eight-part interview by Carlo Cavazzuti and appeared in its original Italian version on Narrare di Storia. Let's find out why historical research matters in swordmaking! The work of a swordsmith necessarily involves a lot of historical research. As professionals...
This is the sixth part of an eight-part interview by Carlo Cavazzuti and appeared in its original Italian version on Narrare di Storia. Let’s find out why historical research matters in swordmaking!
The work of a swordsmith necessarily involves a lot of historical research. As professionals we have the duty not to lie.
How many times did you read “historical replica” or “hand-forged sword” or also “faithful reproduction” close to a wannabe Excalibur toy-sword?
Q17. Yours is a rare job that can have a connection even with those who do not practice fencing. Have you ever dealt with replicas for museums, universities, or the like?
Eleonora: We have never had the opportunity to build replicas for museums as of yet, but we have had the opportunity to collect data from private collections, as well as the Marzoli Museum in Brescia and the Solingen Museum of Blades.
This interview was published in 2020, since then we have had the opportunity to start a project in partnership with KLANG – Spade di leoni ed aquile – Interreg VA Italia – Austria and Comune di Belluno in Italy which has enriched Museo Civico di Palazzo Fulcis with a collection of weapons made by Bellunese swordsmiths, all from Museo Correr in Venice. We are currently working on two wonderful specimens, one schiavonesca and one late XVI century estoc.
Q18. Now let’s move on to sports equipment. What difference is there between forging a weapon for reenactment and one for sport?
Rodolfo: Certainly the thickness and the degree of flexibility.
Dealing with sport, reenactment and blunt replicas is always a great challenge. Every sword belonging to one of these different categories has to follow different parameters of thickness, flexibility and accuracy.
The sport swords, meant for the Historical European Martial Arts practice, need to be flexible and performative, and also to be as minimal as possible from an aesthetic point of view, without sacrificing the general historical flavour.
The reenactment swords, meant for scenic battles and duels, are not our cup of tea, mostly because so many authentic parameters have to be sacrificed for the sake of extreme resilience and durability.
On the other hand, the collectible swords, belonging to the Armeria Collection, are the works we enjoy the most but also the most demanding ones. Being as accurate as possible, finding the right compromises to make an excellent blunt reproduction require an amount of time and efforts that other more “standard” swords don’t need.
Q19. Do you receive more requests for sports weapons than for historical replicas, or vice versa?
Rodolfo: Definitely more for sports weapons.
Q20. Have you ever made weapons for films, theatrical performances or fiction in general?
Rodolfo: No, never, but we would love to.
Q21. What do you think of the swords that are only for display? Yours never are.
Eleonora: They fulfil their purpose!
We always have a large variety of customers who look for different aspects and purposes in their swords. We mainly work with historical fencers, and we never had the opportunity to work for cinema or theatre.
But we made some collectible swords that were for display: they were heat-treated and decorated, but even if they were meant to be exhibited, we always choose to make fully functional reproductions.
Q22. How could you go about making an exact replica of a historical weapon preserved in a museum? You’ve done it before, can you tell us about it? Again, we don’t need the details, but just a few indications to give us an idea.
Eleonora: To make an accurate replica, the best would be to make the tracings of the exact original piece or original pieces of the same type, also because the swords often come to us having undergone some changes or suffered some wear and tear over time. We then proceed with the design, from the tracing to the drawing, until we get to the object we are going to build, which will be the result of compromises, reconstruction by deduction or proportion, choice, and research on the materials to be used.
To understand why historical research matters you have to start with another question: what does historical accuracy mean?
We interpret it by working on the dynamics and the “feeling”. From a design point of view, Eleonora always carries out the research starting with collecting as many models and information as possible of the same type of sword, comparing a large choice of originals and data. She chooses the right aesthetics, designs the piece with a CAD software and gives the general coordinates. Then, the task passes to the smithy, where Rodolfo and the guys analyse the project. the directions and the suggestions left by Eleonora and work out a plan to make it possible, in order to follow the feel and the appearance of the original sword/s which the project is based on. All the skills provided by the team makes the result possible.
Q23. Nowadays, the term “experimental archeology” is in fashion. Do you, though not archaeologists in fact, feel that way?
Rodolfo: Absolutely not! Experimental archeology is, by definition, the reconstruction of the process that leads to the artefact. We don’t use the same procedures, and above all our purpose is not the study and research of the procedure, but the realisation of the result. The study of the procedures is collateral and utilitarian as a means to our end goal.
And here we are! It would be heresy if we’d affirm to follow the ancient techniques to investigate the process. But if we want to stay grounded, because on the contrary our processes wouldn’t be efficient enough, we must be devoted to historical research.
Why does historical research matters then? Because without it a sword would be ugly and clumsy or simply ordinary and repetitive. By distorting or not knowing the principles that regulate the design and the properties of the sword, that sword can remotely recall the original in some way, but it will never have the same attraction, grace or strength as the object that inspired it. Nor the smiths can grow and evolve through time.
We still have to learn a lot, because every art requires repetition, devotion and studying but we’re confident in saying that we’re doing our best to walk in the right direction.
And if you have any suggestion, we are always very keen to listen. Keep up following us for the next episode!
Q7. The forge of a swordsmith in the 21st century definitely doesn’t look much like one you would have found in a medieval city. Can you tell us what the differences are?
Rodolfo: A whole treatise could be written to answer this question. I will try to be concise: it depends a lot on the production process used by each swordsmith. Certainly very few of us have a water mill, or a mallet and grinding wheels powered by it, but we have the electric power that compensates for the lack of them, as well as electric or pneumatic tools, ultra tech abrasives and what have you, to centralise the production chain in a single workshop; this production chain was once much more segmented and specialised.
Eleonora: There were certainly no computers that could be used to draw, nor all the apps that I use to manage my workflow, like a CRM, for example!
The industrial revolution before and the digital revolution then has changed everything. If our ancestors could look at us, we would be certainly alien to them!
But as a side note, working with different processes doesn’t mean swords are not authentic. This kind of vision corrupts the value and the effort all swordsmiths put in their work today.
Q8. Imagine we are in the medieval forge mentioned in the previous question. A noble gentleman enters and, placing a bag full of silver on the table, asks to have a sword made so he can leave with the good emperor Federico on the road to the Holy Land. What happens next? How would you proceed, and how is it done now, to make a weapon from scratch that can be used in battle? We don’t want to know the secrets of the trade, but just an idea of how you would proceed, from order to delivery.
Rodolfo: To tell you exactly how a commission worked at the time of Federico di Svevia, I would have to have a lot more documented data available; during the centuries I studied from this perspective, between the 14th and the 16th century the city guilds were well-organised. Usually, the private commissions came through an entrepreneurial figure who distributed the work between the various artisans, as the work was much more specialised than as it is today. Today, the swordsmith is expected to be a carpenter, goldsmith, engraver and coppersmith, as well. In part, we have also acquired several of these skills at different levels in recent years, but it’s certainly not like having a team of experts who divide the work into different phases.
Eleonora: I can reiterate what Rodolfo said. To conclude, I can tell you how an order works today as I take care of customer service and design. If a customer chooses a piece from the sport collection, the options are already specified on the website and the order process is immediate. If, on the other hand, they go for a custom sword, whether it’s an artefact or for HEMA, the process is longer as I have to understand what the customer is looking for and if we can satisfy them.
Understanding the customer’s needs is a complex process which requires empathy and listening. You have to guide them through various ideas and proposals, and it’s really important to be creative and to know the subject both from the craftmanship and the historical point of view. So, studying the development of swords through history and swordsmanship is fundemental to connect the dots and offer a bespoke solution.
Q9. From receiving the commission to ending up with the finished sword in its scabbard, ready to be used by a nobleman, how much time do you need and how long did it take in the past?
Rodolfo: I can cite a precious testimony from the end of the 16th century where it’s said that a master weaponsmith from Brescia made 25 swords or 18 polearms in one day. Our production times are a little different. (laughs)
Eleonora: Of course, if we had a larger and better equipped workshop, even with automated processes, our production times and techniques would be different: but this is not our case yet, having built this company with little economic capital and a lot of human capital (hourly speaking), it’s all a work in progress! However, it always depends on the type of sword. Generally speaking, making swords can take anywhere from 8-10 hours for one, to weeks, to even months.
As we deal both with “standardized” products and custom projects, times are really varying. We worked a lot in the last two years to define precise deadlines, setting the production with a methodical schedule, which allows to establish more precise times of completion. For example, a Sport sword can be already in stock, or take around 3 months to be delivered. An Armeria sword, on the other hand, can currently take from 6 to 12 months.
Q10. What difference is there in making swords in different eras? With new technologies, is it still so different to forge a medieval sword compared with a Renaissance or Baroque one?
Rodolfo: There are many studies on ancient forging techniques, and blacksmiths with much more expertise. Our friend Giovanni Sartori could be decidedly more exhaustive, as he specialised in this subject. Much, I think, has always depended on the metal-working method and on the ability to enrich iron with carbon, so I limit myself to saying that in different parts of the world and in different eras, techniques have been used that had the purpose of hardening and subsequently, heat-treating the metal. Conceptually, today we still do the same things, but we have simplified the steps, being able to procure particular metals that meet our needs.
Q11. Is there a difference between forging a blade from the same historical period, but from a different place?
Rodolfo: Without a doubt, starting from the composition of the steel. For this, some production sites were more renowned than others. But then as we said earlier, each craftsman had his own formulas, which also certainly varied according to the raw materials available. If you consider Japan, for example, the master swordsmiths, not having the right technologies nor the mineral in abundance as there is in Europe, drew iron matter from the sand by process of extraction. Here in Europe, it’s always been done through the extraction of iron from the rock. Essentially, I believe it depended on the possibilities of supply of those who produced the blades.
When we think about the ancient world we cannot imagine how much travels and trades were evolved. We think that only because they hadn’t airplanes or trucks, exchanges were less and less effective. But think for a moment at Marco Polo, at the end of 13th century! Iron, as many other goods, traveled all over Europe: for example, from Nothern Italy, it was purchased even from Germany and Spain! Don’t you think it’s amazing? Keep up following us for other contents about the swordsmithing world!
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