double wrap belts

[ECOX]

I am redoing my kit and looking for a new belt. I like the look of the double wrap belts, but looking at pics on the forum I do not see any. So I would like to hear your opinions on them. Also any suggestions for a good belt.

[Sir James A]

Double wrap belts are the way to go for earlier swords. They're more comfortable, don't sag, and they're period as well. I have this one:


http://www.museumreplicas.com/p-145-medieval-double-wrap-belt.aspx

and it works well for earlier swords (under 40" or so). It's a roughly 12th/13th century belt style, so it's appropriate for the type of swords that were most common then. If you have a longsword or other bigger sword, a 14th/later style belt works best. I plan to get the "swordbelt for long sword" at the bottom of this page:

http://www.theinnerbailey.com/swordbelts.htm

It is not a double wrap belt, but the distributed strapping on the side and rear lets the sword sit at a proper angle and spreads the weight from pulling down on one spot and sagging.

Pardon the lack of mail, the pirate boots, and the spaulder sitting under my breastplate during the pic, but here's the MRL double-wrap sword belt "in action":



The sword is a CAS/Hanwei Great Sword of War, and is almost 48" long. It kept bumping the ground (I'm about 5'11"), and I think a max sword length of around 40" would be best (leaving ~6" of ground clearance).

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, I'm totally sold on double-wrap suspensions. Even on the longswords they can work well, as long as they're positioned correctly. I used one for my MDRF "cheater" sword (the one glued into the scabbard), and my Albion Landgraf has a custom scabbard that has an integrated double-wrap belt.

[Sir Wolf]

whilr i like them im not sold on how period they are in any century.

[Sir William]

The first time I saw a double-wrap belt was in the movie Ivanhoe...and thought it looked really cool. 

[Sir Patrick]

I have the same one as sir James and am pretty happy with how it distributes the weight.

[Sir Ulrich]

I gotta get one of these, problem is few belt sizes fit my 29 inch waist. So normally I got to go with custom fit belts to avoid excess tail. Currently I just use 2 belts one for my sword and another for my other things because it's a pain to have my sword flopping around my other stuff.

[ECOX]

Sir ulrich, I have the opposite problem. I am 39 inch waist (down from a 44). So off the shelf does not come easy on this side either. example my 6 in 1 chain mallie shirt that I made is 54" in diameter. So i have to worry about not enough tail. My current ring belt is 72". Just hoping this one goes all the way around lol.

[Sir Edward]

The good news is you can trim excess and add holes when the belt is too long. It's hard to fix it if it's too short.

[Sir Patrick]

I ordered mine big and added a hole, so I would have a decent sized tail.  Worked out okay, but if you go too big, you may have to re-attach the buckle as well (because it won't center well).

[Sir James A]

The good news is you can trim excess and add holes when the belt is too long. It's hard to fix it if it's too short.

My thoughts exactly, being on the end of the "belt too short" scale.