I was at the Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival over the weekend. Even though it was their Highland theme weekend, I decided not to wear the kilt because I'm still torn on the issue of whether I like the idea of wearing the kilt as a 'costume', especially in the anachronistic (or completely fantasy-based) way most people do it at these type events.

Nonetheless, we had a good time and my wife saw a lot of others wearing kilts in ways that she thinks I should emulate for the next Renaissance festival. I'm still mulling that over in my head. But while we were there, I wandered into a booth selling armor and swords, and saw a reproduction basket-hilt claymore (this one was a backsword) that I took a shine to. It was an impulse buy, and I came home with it.

So now that I've bought the darn thing, I might as well wear it at the next faire, whether I'm kilted or not. But I'm wondering how it was typically worn, historically. I've never been a sword guy, so I'm not even fully familiar with all the terminology and such. Help a brother out with some photo examples and a "how to wear a basket-hilt claymore for dummies" type tutorial.

The first thing I noticed about it is that the extra weight of the basket hilt makes it hang out of balance compared to other swords. I tried several different frogs for it at various vendor booths, but it just wouldn't hang at the right angle. I'm thinking it may need to be worn on a baldric. And going by memory, I think this is how I usually see it worn.

Can you show me some historic examples, or walk me through the best way of carrying it?