Average Baldric width???

[Gibbet Jones]

I'm sure the leather strap for baldrics can be many sizes, but I'm trying to get a general ballpark size in which to make my baldric buckles. So for all those out there who have them could you be so kind as to measure your baldric and post the width of the strap where the buckle is. It would help so much. I have a pile of designs ready to sculpt and I can't go ahead with them till I get this important info.

Thank you - Gibbet.

[Jack Roberts]

Have you tried a search? I think this has been asked before.

[Quartermaster James]

The baldric for my hunting sword is 2" wide.

[Bright]

Me belt and baldrick bes 3 inches mate ;-}

[William Brand]

Apart from the heavier, fancy cloth baldrics of the same period, leather belts and baldrics seem to be conservative in style and width. Examples in art and archeology show that belts are often less wide rather than more wide. I think one and a half to two inches is decent size for a baldric of the Golden Age if you're seeking a standard range.

My two cents.

[William Brand]

I stand a corrected, and by some of my own research this week. I have found several examples of baldrics as wide as 2.5 inches, though I have found no period leather baldrics wider than this.

We need more people with rulers and cameras at museums.

[Hawkyns]

Too many variables for a single answer. As always, date and country make a difference. In the mid 17th C, they tend to be wide, 3 or 4 inches even. This is to carry the weight of the heavy cavalry and basket hilt swords that are common. This tendency remains with the Scots, northern English and a number of the northern European countries that retained the heavier blades going into the 18th century. The vast majority of these heavier baldrics were of leather. Officers, the French, and the more aristocratic moved to the lighter court swords like the colichmarde and the light rapier. Not having nearly the weight of the broadswords and backswords, baldrics also lightened up, going down to about 2 inches. This is where the fabric baldrics appeared, though many of them were also backed with leather.

The sword belt of the GAoP seems to average 2-2 1/2 inches, mostly done with double d buckles, the French being a fatter buckle and the British being thinner.

I'll have a couple of styles with me at PiP, for sale and as examples for orders.

Hawkyns

[Gibbet Jones]

looks like I'll have too make the first sculpt 2.5 or 3" in the center. Then use a reducing material that will shrink my design ( like shrinkie dinks) , from that I can recast small versions, all the way down to shoe buckle sizes.