Seven Sword Components Made Easy

When you start the fabulous hobby of swordthat is to hold the sword.
collecting one of the first things you have to come toThe next part is the quillons, which is always spoken of
terms with is the words with which the various partsin the plural as there are two halves of a quillon the left
of the sword are known. This article will describe thehand side and the right hand side. The quillons job is to
following items:both protect the hand from the blade and also to stop
- Pommelthe hand from slipping off the sword.
- GripsQuillons can be made to look quite ornate and in the
- a Quillonscase of the old swashbuckling swords of the
- Cutawaybuccaneers they were very large and round and quite
- Fullersimilar to the quillons used on an epee which is the
- Bladesword used for the sport of fencing.
- PointThere is also something which in modern language
Starting at the very top of the sword there is either aterms would be described as a cutaway but in more
round or square item at the top of the handle and thistraditional terms is known as a fuller. The job of the
in known as the pommel. The pommel performs twofuller is to give the blade flexibility and strength and also
very useful functions.leads to a reduction in weight as well. It runs the whole
The first is to stop your hand from slipping from thelength of the blade and is best described as a groove.
handle, and in fact your hand is sandwiched betweenThe blade is quite obviously for slashing or cutting and
two components of the sword, the pommel and thedoes not really require any further description as to the
quillons, whose collective responsibilities are to stopfunctionality. A more interesting perspective about the
your hand from slipping off either into your own bladeblade is what it can be constructed from. Whilst most
or off the sword completely.blades are steel you can get everything from glass to
The pommel has another function which is to form agold although these more ornate structures are for
weapon for close quarters combat. It is used to strikeceremonial purposes rather than battle situations.
down on the head of an opponent when they areAnd finally there is the point which is the business end
close enough. This is where the term pommellingof the sword at the very tip of the sword.
comes from and it means to strike down uponThe phrase "do you get my point" is believed originate
someone. The word is originates from the french wordfrom this part of the sword as in when asking
pommel as do so many words in the sword dictionary.someone if they understood what you mean, as in
The next part of a sword is the handle or grips whoseancient times to get the point meant you really did
name describes the function for which it is used andunderstand what they meant.