It`s the blades with a large central fuller, and then a very narrow secondary fuller between the back and the central one.

+Cyryl Kowalczyk Hi Cyryl, actually a lot of pipebacks were still in service during the Crimean War, as officers traditionally bought their sword at the start of their career, and lots of officers in the Crimea had joined before 1845. However, the main problem with pipebacks was certainly their general flexibility leading to poor thrusting power and penetration, but also the fact that they were more easily bent or broken than the post-1845 blade type.

+Decay ok thank you

+James Grant Repshire I think it was pretty much mainly inspired by the French 1882 and slightly by a couple of Italian models, which are all really more duelling sabres than 'war' sabres. The French 1882 is pretty decent as a thruster, fairly useless as a cutter (though good enough for a duel) - about the same as the US 1902 I'd say. Though when you compare any of these to the British 1895/97 it's clear that Britain still took swords more seriously - no doubt due to fighting Indians, Pathans, Afghans, Maories, Sudanese, Zulus etc. I'd be interested to know if there are any documented cases of the US 1902 being used in combat. Certainly the British 1897 and French 1882 were very occasionally - even in WW1.

+scholagladiatoria Thanks for the info Matt. I'll keep an eye out for any info on its use in combat. I once read a somewhat apocryphal statement that a few young infantry officers took them into the trenches with them in WWI and quickly abandoned the practice. I'd think there is more likelihood of them being used during the rebellions in the Philippines, which I understand often involved hand-to-hand combat.

+Nate Pendergraft 'Swords of the British Army' by Robson

+scholagladiatoria thank you!

testing doesn't always show up flaws that are noticeable in the field. Add to that what exactly they are testing for and politics/influence, history is strewn in even in modern times with kit/weapons that got past testing and was found to be lacking in the field.

+Hjerrick That's what bugs me a little bit too :D

+Hjerrick There was a lot of experimentation going on with sword design in the 19th century, not just in England but all over Europe. You see a lot of variation, with some very innovative ideas, much of which seems to have been a matter of different opinions of what sort of qualities a sword should have. For instance, there was a long debate on whether thrusting was better than cutting, and how the two should be balanced in case of a compromise. Then people debated whether or not compromising was preferable to specialization, and so on. This sort of thinking became very common once armor was phased out - you see considerably less variation in medieval times since there are only so many sensible designs when you have to factor in what kind of armor people are wearing. From what I understand, the pipeback was an attempt to make a light sword with a fine cutting edge that was still pretty stiff. It's not my favorite design, but they were fairly popular swords for a while so I doubt they were actually bad weapons. The main critique seems to have been their tendency to cause fairly shallow cuts. They are very light, though - I once got to handle a Swedish one and it was by far the lightest, most agile sword I've ever held.It felt almost toy-like and waving it around was really fun.

RelativelyBest Very interesting. You connected a lot of dots for me between Matts videos that I hadn't realized were there, thank you!

As a general rule, Senior NCO’s (Sergeants and Warrant Officers) carried the same swords as commissioned officers, but WITHOUT etching on the blade. They also will often have issue stamps like a broad arrow, or a small crown with a number under it. This is because their swords were issued and not privately purchased like officers swords. Therefore, what you have is almost certainly a senior NCO sword that belonged to a sergeant in the rifles.

@@alfrede.neuman9082, thank you.

+Escylon No, many kept their old swords. New officers would buy the new model of course and some officers who wanted to keep up with fashion would buy a new model sword, but they were not obliged to.

At the time of these weapons 'Infantry' were mostly armed with non-rifled muskets, whereas 'Rifles' used what you'd assume.

+Lajos Papp The dress sword is essentially a curved spadroon.

scholagladiatoria I see, thanks for the reply!

+ercluxior search on ebay

I'm hesitant because they all seem to be from Chinese vendors. I don't know about the quality.

ercluxior Try and rob Matt Easton when he's not home?

+Manic Demise An officer of Rifles in Sharpe's time would most likely have carried a flank officer's sabre, modelled on the 1796 light cavalry sabre, but lighter. Or possible a version of the 1803 pattern sabre.

scholagladiatoria thanks!

+scholagladiatoria Sharpe is described as preferring a heavy cavalry trooper's sword. Not even an officer's sword -- a trooper's sword. Later in the series he loses his original trooper sword and his friend, Harper, replaces it by effectively raiding the arsenal at the town they're stationed in. By the end of that book he "obtains" a Klingenthal (Saxony) sword from a Frenchman, repeatedly remarks upon how well crafted it is, but still ultimately prefers his trooper's sword. But Cromwell always played a little fast and loose with military regulations in the interests of telling a compelling story. Sharpe had no business being at Trafalgar but there's still an entire book devoted to it.

+Matt L Indeed. Sharpe uses the 1796 Heavy Cavalry Trooper Sword for most of the series. Cromwell's reasoning for this is because Sharpe is not a good swordsman at the start of the series. He prefers bludgeoning and hacking opponents to death through sheer force. For the cavalry this makes sense, but I have no idea how 'accurate' such a notion is when fighting on foot.

+Minute Man He was more an industrialist than anything else. He ran the company that was known as the single finest manufacturer of swords in the British Empire. He inherited it from his father James Wilkinson, who inherited it from his father-in law-Henry Nock, who is best known today for producing the Nock volley gun. So he had a family history of producing military hardware, plus hundreds of employees working in his factories producing weapons on an industrial scale. Getting his design approved had less to do with supplying great swords than it was to do with his company's rivalry with Prosser who had taken credit for the pipe back design. Using a combination of marketing and political clout he got Prossers' design replaced with his own to ensure continued profitability for the company.

+lancer D

+lancer D Excellent background information that helps with context..

Thanks guys, interesting story.

+Geralt von Riva A lynx

+scholagladiatoria looks pretty nice