See also: Hilt (band)
The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard,
grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillions. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel.
1 Pommel
The pommel (The name is derived from the Latin for a "little apple") is a counterweight at the top of the handle. Even the lightest of modern fencing weapons use the weight of the pommel to provide a balance that the wielder prefers. In this sense, the pommel has remained one of the few parts of a sword that has more than any other retained its ancient function. Pommels have come in a wide variety of shapes, including crescents, oblate spheroids, semicircular, and disks.
2 Grip
The grip is the handle of the sword. It was usually of wood or metal, and often covered with leather or shark skin. Shark skin proved to be the most durable in temperate climates but deteriorated in hot climates, and consequently rubber became popular in the latter half of the 19th Century.
Whatever material covered the grip, it was usually both glued on and held on with wire wrapped around it in a spiral.
In full armored battle, however, the grip was often only used with one hand (even on two-handed swords), and the blade was gripped partway up, thus allowing the fighter to thrust the blade horizontally, with both hands, into the opponent.
3 Guard
The guard protects the user's hand from the opponent's sword. In early swords it simply did not exist. Later it was usually a straight crossbar ("quillions") perpendicular to the blade. Beginning in the 16th century15th century 16th century 17th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. Events Beginning of the " Little Ice Age" a cooling period that resulted in lower crop yi in EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se guards became more and more elaborate, with additional loops and curved bars to protect the hand from cuts. Ultimately, the bars could be supplemented or replaced with metal plates that could be ornamentally pierced. "Basket hilt" eventually came into vogue to describe such designs.
Simultaneously, emphasis upon the thrust attack with rapierThis article is about the sword. See also Rapier missile. A rapier is a relatively slender (they could have blades over an inch in width), sharply pointed sword with a blade at least 90 centimetres in length, often sporting an elaborate hilt and hand-guars and smallswords revealed a vulnerability to thrusting. By the 17th century16th century 17th century 18th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601- 1700. During this period, the power of England and the United Provinces increased; while that of, guards were developed that incorporated a solid shield that surrounded the blade out to a diameter of up to two inchAn inch is an Imperial unit of length. Sweden also briefly had a "decimal inch" based on the metric system: see below for more. According to some sources, the inch was originally defined informally as the distance between the tip of the thumb and the firses or more. Older forms of this guard retained the quillions or a single quillion, but later forms eliminated the quillions, altogether. This latter form is the basis of the guards of modern foilA foil is the following: In chemistry, a foil is a very thin sheet of metal. In fencing, a foil is a type of practice weapon. In boating, a foil is a hydrofoil. In aeronautics, a foil is an airfoil, a type of wing or blade. Often, foil is short form of ths and epees.
