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Many if not most French Cuirassier An XIII swords I come across are missing the twisted brass grip wire. Because the An XIII does not have a backpiece to the grip, it is a relatively easy thing to replace the wire if you so wish. The real caveats are however;

a) Knowing the grip wire you put in place is for show only; it will not be as strongly bound to the grip as the original / a professionally done rewiring.

b) Aging the brass wire to match the age of the hilt is not that easy. You can age brass by brushing vinegar onto it, but this has to be done after the grip wire replacement is fitted, or the aging will scratch off in places and look naff. Then, bear in mind, the vinegar can damage the leather grip, so be careful and apply a protective leather balsam first to the leather if you brush vinegar onto the new twisted grip wire.

OK, you need around 3 meters of 0.8 mm jewelry brass wire. Fold it in half at the 1.5 meter point. Place one end (this may be the two ends of the wire now together, or the bend end) in a vice, place the other end in the jaws of a variable speed electric drill.

Set the drill to the slowest speed. Twist and twist the wire keeping it taught but not tight; as you twist the length of twisted wire will shorten. Twist until you match the appearance (twists per cm / inch) of the original. Wearing a thick glove, grip the end in the drill and release the wire from the drill bit; it will turn in your hand, hence the glove. Release the other wire end from the vice. Try to keep the wire as straight as possible.

The grip; remove all the old wire. Then under the brass grip ferule, drill a very small width hole about 7mm in and at an angle to allow the twisted wire end to be easily pushed in. Put some good glue (suitable for metal and wood) into the hole and push one end of the twisted wire length into it (you obviously cut the end of the wire end to have a 7mm stright section that is bent at an angle to the wire length). Clamp it into place and let the glue set hard.

Now you need to wrap the wire around the grip into the grooves left by the original grip wire. This requires you to thread the wire each time through the bar guard; be sure not to bend the wire in the process. You can glue the wire onto the leather if you are careful; this will make the replacement much stronger but you need to be good to make it look good. Wrap and wrap around until you get to the end of the grip where the wire needs to go under the pommel. Clamp the wire to the grip and leave so the brass adapats to its new curvature.

You may simply be able to pull the wire under the pommel if it is tight and leave it at that, but I think it is better to drill another hole this time at an angle under the pommel. This is the hardest part; be prepared to hear erstwhile angels use profanities. Once finally in position (again using glue), clamp, leave and pray.

That is it. You can use the same method for swords with similar grips such as US civil war swords.

Have fun!