Weapon Stats

[Jeremy Martin]

I was wondering if prehaps we could compile a list of average weapon weights and lengths here.

I realize that these things can vary, and that some terms can be used to describe multiple weapons but I was looking for some sort of -average-. Like, and this is just an example, 'Greatswords can be between X-Ylbs and be between Y and X in length.'.

If there is a topic like this, or a part of the webpage that has something like this I apologize. I haven't seen it, yet and if so I would appreciate being pointed in it's direction.

But it would be nice if there was just one place you could go to get a look at all these numbers. At least for us noobs. <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

[SzabolcsWaldmann]

I can tell you something, two days ago I had the opportunity to wisit the Zeughaus in Graz, wich is the second greatest collection of arms from 1500-1600. There were lots of Twohanders, longswords and arming swords.

The Twohanders, the biggest one was well under 6 kg, something around 5.5 or so, with one being as light as 2.5 kg! The average was 3.6 kg.
The Longswords on the other hand, were gigantic. They were broader, longer, bigger than any I've seen, with blade lengths up to 110 cm! That's 20 more than mine! They were sometimes as broad as 6 cm at the Hilt (mine is 4.5), and were around 1.9 -2.3 kgs, witch makes an average weight of 2 kgs. Yet, that is not all that matters. They must have had very good balance, for the blades were thin at the end, and the hilts were compound, almost as if they were rapiers or something. And with good balance, 2 kgs are nothing.

The Arming swords were average 1.1 kgs.
The Estocs around 0.9, 1 kgs.

Byez,

Szab

[Stacy Clifford]

Here's one with lots of detailed stats about two-handers:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html

And another about sword weights in general:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/weights.htm

[Neil Bockus]

Hey Jeremy,

I'm new to the historical Western Martial Arts scene myself and have been studing for a few months (it's hard to use wasters at college!) Anyways, the ARMA site has a section called "The Weighty Issue of Two Handed Swords" that will give you a good idea of variance, and also average length, weight and the like. That's for one sword anyways.

Others can be found in books. Take anything you read online with a grain of salt...one site I visited stated that the two-hander weighs on average between 7 and 14 pounds! Bvbvlvm Stercvs! (BS!) To get another idea, from "Medieval Swordsmanship" by John Clements there are several statistics offered.

To paraphrase:
One-hand swords range in length from 35 to 42 inches and average between 2 and 3.5 pounds
Long Swords range in length from 40 to 48 inches and average 2.5-3.5 pounds.
Great Swords are 44-53 inches long and average between 3 and 4 pounds.
Bastard Swords typically range from 40 to 48 inches weighing 3-3.5 pounds.
Two Handers could go to 72 inches and weigh between 3.5 to just over 5 pounds on average. Check the site for more on two handers.

As previously stated, this is data from the book, not my own experience. There's obviously gonna be deviation. Look around but be cautious and you can find more data on this subject, and a lot can be found right here.