Ah, someone finally mentioned 18th century Cutlasses? Back in the early mid 1980’s, I collected original 18th and early 19th century Cutlasses for a few years. Both Britain and France used Cutlasses with not only Iron Guards, but also Iron Grips. (Americans used and made copies of the British Cutlasses for most of the 18th century, but switched to copying the French Cutlasses in the 19th century.)
18th Century British Cutlasses had round or tapered round thick Sheet Iron Grips and a figure 8 guard as shown in the following link on page 12. I was never able to find one of those for sale when I collected Cutlasses, but did handle a couple of originals. However, the rounded grip was replaced with a “knobbly” Iron grip as of the Pattern 1804 and used in various forms for decades after that time. It is shown under page 26 in the following link. I did own one of these and that grip was much better than the 18th century round Iron Grips.
http://antiqueswordsforsale.com/british-18th-19th-century-naval-cutlasses/
I ran across and purchased a pair of original French Model 1760 Cutlasses and have to say the French Iron Grips were superior to the 18th century British Cutlasses in that the French Iron Grips were sort of Hexagonal/Octagonal Shape. I can’t find a link to an original of that Model, but the grip remained the same in the early 19th century. In the following link it shows a repro of the early 19th century French Cutlass and the grip is pretty close to originals of both the M 1760 and French 19th century Cutlass, to give you an idea. (Oh, the Iron Guard of this 19th century French Cutlass was also directly copied in Brass for the American Model 1860 Cutlass.)
https://www.ima-usa.com/collections...al-boarding-cutlass-classic-pirate-style-used
As Coot correctly noted, all the British and French 18th and early 19th century Cutlasses with their Iron Guards and Grips, were dipped into Black Japanning for protection against the elements aboard ship. Every original Cutlass I have owned or seen or read about, at least had traces of that finish remaining.
OK, I do apologize for going a bit off topic, but I’ve been waiting for someone to bring up period Naval Cutlasses for some time now.
Now back to our regularly scheduled topic of Black Brown Bess Muskets.
British Ordnance broke Sea Service Muskets/Firelocks down into two categories, I.E. “Black” and “Bright.” “Black” Muskets were intended for Boat/Landing Crews and besides being japanned black, were often shorter for better ease of handling in boats. The “Bright” Muskets were intended for Marines and were often closer to the length of Land Pattern Muskets. This per Dr. De Witt Bailey.
As to British Land Pattern Musket stocks being stained or painted Black, we have the following original documentation.
First printed in the 1760’s and twice more after that, “Cuthbertson's System for the Complete Interior Management and Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry.” By Captain/Major Bennett Cuthbertson. Below is translated into modern English spelling:
“By going to some little expense, it will not be difficult to bring the stocks of the firelock(s) to one uniform colour, by staining them with either
black, red or yellow; and then by laying on a varnish, to preserve them always in a glossy, shining condition.”
https://books.google.com/books?id=1SxEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA89&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
Gus
