Uploaded July 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This is a British interim sabre from between 1796 and 1803, for a Flank or Light Infantry officer. With a wedge section blade, heavily curved, and a 1796 style hilt, this sword was scaled down to fit the needs of an infantry officer and is extremely quick and agile.
The deeply curved, slightly shorter blade is well suited to draw cuts, and the overall lightness compliments the POB (12cm from crossguard)
The reason it can be accurately dated to the interim period of 1796 to 1803 is because of the British war office officially adopting new patterns of sabres in those years.
In 1796 the (rather well known) 1796 light cavalry sabre was adopted, which this mimics in hilt design, featuring a stirrup hilt ("P" shaped guard) and a curved blade.
Flank infantry and Light infantry officers often engaged in skirmishing tactics and thus officers for these regiments tended to go for more combat appropriate swords than their official pattern (The 1796 spadroon, often considered to be a terrible sword).
As a result of the number of Flank/Light infantry officers using 1796 Light Cavalry sabre derivatives, the 1803 was soon officially adopted for these regiments, featuring a broad, heavily curved blade and a more elaborate and more protective hilt.
This design falls between those two.
Nicks' channel:
youtube.com/channel/UC_HtUzv9WIfxx31eYKDo4aA
This is a British interim sabre from between 1796 and 1803, for a Flank or Light Infantry officer. With a wedge section blade, heavily curved, and a 1796 style hilt, this sword was scaled down to fit the needs of an infantry officer and is extremely quick and agile.
The deeply curved, slightly shorter blade is well suited to draw cuts, and the overall lightness compliments the POB (12cm from crossguard)
The reason it can be accurately dated to the interim period of 1796 to 1803 is because of the British war office officially adopting new patterns of sabres in those years.
In 1796 the (rather well known) 1796 light cavalry sabre was adopted, which this mimics in hilt design, featuring a stirrup hilt ("P" shaped guard) and a curved blade.
Flank infantry and Light infantry officers often engaged in skirmishing tactics and thus officers for these regiments tended to go for more combat appropriate swords than their official pattern (The 1796 spadroon, often considered to be a terrible sword).
As a result of the number of Flank/Light infantry officers using 1796 Light Cavalry sabre derivatives, the 1803 was soon officially adopted for these regiments, featuring a broad, heavily curved blade and a more elaborate and more protective hilt.
This design falls between those two.
Nicks' channel:
youtube.com/channel/UC_HtUzv9WIfxx31eYKDo4aA
![[OUTDATED]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qm-Qx3j60w0/mqdefault.jpg "[OUTDATED]
THIS VIDEO IS OUTDATED. See my updated video here: https://youtu.be/VlBIkJn1GnI
This is a kilij, (Turkic word for sword) also known as a Pala (specific to this style of short sabre with a T shaped spine).
It is made of wootz, a type of crucible steel that has distinct patterns. This particular style of wootz is known as dendritic wootz, as it has dendrites, or branches of bright lines (cementite) on a dark background (sorbite). (Although it is possible this is pattern welded and I am just blind)
In the top right image you can see a distinct band of pale steel. This indicates a scarf weld, where two bars of wootz were forge welded together by heating them to a orange color, then hammering them together. The reason for this is likely because the top / end section of wootz billets is often dirty and crumbly, so it gets cut off and a clean bit is used for the tang.
This style of sabre has a very, thin, fine edge, making it an exceptionally good slicing or slashing sword. The heavy curve further emphasises this. The thick (10mm) spine prevents you from chopping deeply with a typical cutting motion, requiring you to draw cut, pulling the blade along your opponents flesh and rending it apart.
This style first appeared around 1750-1770, and this example is from around 1780-1790. It is likely Turkish / Ottoman, and feels amazing to handle. Whilst the point of balance is something like 18cm away from the guard, it just floats when you hold it. You can barely tell youre holding a sword.
Length: 84cm
Blade Length: 70cm
Weight: 670 grams
Point of Balance: 18cm")
![[OUTDATED] 1882 French Infantry Officers Sword | Hilt and Blade Variation](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s-0oxU4QWq0/mqdefault.jpg "[OUTDATED] 1882 French Infantry Officers Sword | Hilt and Blade Variation
A overview of the available blade designs and handle material for the 1882 French infantry officers sword, with some history and etymology.
The French 1882 Infantry Officers Sword is a thrusting sword with roots in the earlier French cuirassiers sword. The hilts were made of several materials, being steel (which was strongest), bronze (which was often used by mounted infantry), or finally from German silver, which occasionally had elaborate decoration.
Blades could either be standard, with offset fullers, or from French patterns both old and new, or even entirely custom made to fit an officers requests. The reasons for these choices varied, and so the end result is a surprising amount of variation between individual non-regulation swords.
There were two sizes available for the 1882, a full size and a smaller picquet size, and they were often sold in cased pairs.
Please excuse my errors or pauses. I did this in two takes without reading from my script, and this is my first video.")
