Dimensions of Cuirassier swords

[Pete Wenman]

Guys hi

A couple of questions.

What sword would a line Cuirassier have used in 1870. my ref suggests that the 1854 model was replaced by the earlier 1822 type (but my French is pretty lousy so I could be mis-reading)

I have line diagrams of both types but no length. Can anyone give me the length either of the entire sword or just the blade.

thanks

Pete

 

[bert]

Hello Pete,

Maybe I can help you if you have problems to translate French into English .
And I will look through the documentation I have to see if I can be of any help.

Best regards
Bertrand

 

[David H]

According to Les Sabres Portes Par L'Armee Francaise (Lhoste/Resek) the blades of the 1822, 1854, and even 1882 models were all 95 cm. This is opposed to the slightly longer First Empire An IX, XI and XIII, which were around 97.45 cm, total 113.3.

As I understand it, the thing about all French Cuirassier swords is that all the various models were carried up into WWI and even until 1961, including some First Empire Klingenthal blades, which were later re-hilted and re-issued.

Sorry Bert, just in case you couldn't find the info as I had it at hand. I could use your translation services, though!

 

[Pete Wenman]

David thanks for the response and the answer, however it raises a further query as the line drawing I have (in Les Armees de L'Histoire - Cuirassiers 1845-1918) shows the 1854 blade to be longer than the an XIII.

I'll work on the basis that the swords are not drawn to scale.

Bert thanks for the offer.

On with the sword (I hate scratchbuilding swords)

Pete

 

[David H]

Pete-

Your note on the length difference intrigued me so I checked another source, Michel Petard’s Des Sabres et Des Epees (1999), and he states that a decree of 1882 mandated the shortening of all Cuirassier blades by 5cm (why, I haven’t a clue). It looks like cuirassier swords from 1816 to 1854 were originally manufactured with 100cm blades (97.25 for Dragoons) but these were all later shortened by this edict to 95 cm (92 cm for dragoons). Sorry for the confusion and hope you didn’t start working on it; a difference of two inches. In 90mm, what would that be????.

 

[Pete Wenman]

David hi

Thanks for digging around, and finding that further info'.

In 90mm it will make a whopping 2.8mm difference

Luckily I started building from the tip upwards and have not yet cut the sword to length.

Thanks again for the info

Pete