Not more than an hour ago I placed an order with arms & armor for there smallsword! This will make an excellent pair for my smallsword Tom Fiocchi made me(www.fiocchisword.com/).
Now that i will have a couple of smallswords and angelos the school of fencing as a guide, Ill need to some how convince my girlfriend to fence with me! javascript:emoticon('://')

alex the pratt

P.S. Beautiful swords guys congratulations!javascript:emoticon(';)')

Hopefully my two Albions will be here in the next month or so. I am awiting the arrival of a Senlac in campaign worn brown and a Reeve in oxblood that I ordered a few months ago. I have an Albion Mark Hastings type X, but these two will be my first Next Gens, so I am quite eager for them to arrive...
Once I get the scabbard for my Senlac my 11th C. Norman kit will be complete. Well, as complete as these things ever get :lol:

My most recent sword purchase was an Arms & Armor "Black Prince" with a custom blade, which was influenced by the Albion Talhoffer and Agincourt. For 3 or 4 months I vaselated between the Black Prince and the Talhoffer, finally deciding on the Black Prince, since my other 5 hand and a half swords were all Arms & Armor, so I wanted to match the set.
The other five being the Highland Claymore, German Bastard Sword, Durer Bastard Sword, English Longsword and the Edward III Sword.
I had the opportunity to handle both the Talhoffer and the Black Prince prior to purchase and wished I could just buy both of them, however that was not possible. So, I asked Craig Johnson to make me a Black Prince with some Talhoffer characteristics in the blade while retaining those of the Black Prince. Which resulted in absolute perfection of what I wanted!
The blade is twice as thick as normal, and has a more acutely tapering blade to a sinister looking point! The sword still has the graceful cutting ability of the Black Prince, but it also has some of the stoutness of the Talhoffer, which results into being a fierce thrusting sword.
When holding the grip close to the crossguard with the blade horizontal to the floor and banging the pommel with the other hand, this sword has one stiff and seemingly fast vibration to the blade. Outstanding :!:
It was definitely worth the extra money!

Bob

My last sword. 16th Century style longsword "No Ego" by Michael Tinker Pearce

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Along with my other swords:

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Guys!
My new kilij finaly arrived and that makes me very, very happy.
It's made of Mk. 65 steel (0.65 % carbon content) and meassures as follows:

Lenght: 1.02 m (in scabbard)
Overall: 99.5 cm
Blade lenght: 88 cm
Width: 3.3 cm (near the guard)
Blade thickness:0.7 cm (at the guard)
PoB: approx. 20 cm from the guard

A friend of mine (actually the happy owner of the kilij with the straight guard on the first picture, the one with the L-shaped guard is mine) tasted the blades in a metalurgical laboratory. So, he got 47 points on Rockwell scale, which, I think, is very good result.

Good luck!
Boris

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In my trip up to New Glarus, WI a little over a week ago, I decided to stop in at Albion and handle a few pieces in their showroom. I got to handle an early production Stamford and fell in love with it!

So... Mike took me upstairs to his office, I showed him my credit card, and, in minutes, I had an Albion Stamford, with a dark brown grip, on order!

I'm eagerly-awaiting the long, rectangular box at my front door. The anticipation is KILLING me! :eek:



Other Albion swords I fell in love with:

1) The Count.
-- This will probably be my next purchase. I'm thinking green grip with bronze pommel. This is the fastest dedicated cutter I have ever handled.

2) The Viceroy.
-- Gripping the handle with the flat pommel was every bit as comfortable as the extra-long grip of the Munich. I kid you not. And this thing moves with a perfect mix of agility, precision, control, and authority. When I'm ready for a 15th-century War Sword, this will be my first consideration.

3) The Huskarl.
-- I had to pass this one up this time, due to lack of funds in my bank account at the moment. Its proportions were both bold and elegant. Despite being larger than the "11th-century Trio" (Stamford, Reeve, and Bayeaux), I thought it actually felt a little quicker and more eager. I would have called this Albion's fastest Type X if I didn't handle the Thegn immediately thereafter! :D

4) The Castellan and Poitiers.
-- "One would be hard-pressed to find a more agile, more controllable, or quicker singlehanded arming sword anywhere." That was how I described the Castellan. So you could imagine how the lighter, quicker Poitiers felt!

5) The Knecht and Soldat.
-- For those of you preparing for the imminent Zombie invasion, you'll want to buy both of these. The Knecht is a much faster weapon than one would expect. The Soldat felt even faster than the highest-grade, well-balanced kitchen knives!

Of course, each of their models had something good going for them, but those were the models that I really grew to like, especially since I honestly didn't think I'd like some of them.

So, while I contemplate my next purchase (hopefully within the next 2 years), I'm eagerly-anticipating my Stamford. I feel like a kid at Christmas!

My most recent sword was the Edward III by Arms & Armor. It's quite a beast!

This came in the post a few days ago, chuffed to bits with it! :D

My most recent acquisition is this British P1854 Infantry Officer's Sword, made by Wilkinson in 1884.

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That's a beauty Steve! Your starting out with a nice vintage collection so far.

My last acquitition was a late 1800's Italian officers sabre.

F. Horster maker marked - -Solingen / pipe backed blade - nicely triple engraved.



Cheers,

Bill

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Windlass Steelcrafts German Bastard Sword, a good bargain at $179 (shown here after some time on my workbench):

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the 2 deepeekas were to fill in parts to my kits. there not the best swords by any stretch of the means. both need lots of work to make them more period and better all a round. these were more necesity purchases with Christmas money i got :)

the mannings i got as a set form a friend that is getting out of greek reenacting. i have a much older version than what is pictured actually. i think my spear head is a tad smaller :) love them though they rock!

I just got (drove out and picked it up) a nice - and in very good condition - U.S. Army issue NCO Sword.
(Pictures will come... got several things on my plate at the moment)

It is armory-dated "1864" and bears the inspector's marks. Originally manufactured in Chelmsford, Mass by Charles Roby.
And I have to say, it feels really nice in the hand.
Although as an NCO, I wouldn't care to have a contest come down to using my sword.

Because of the late-Civil War dating and excellent condition of this piece, I would suspect it spent much of it's life stored in the arms room, and likely saw little of the Civil War. But it sure is nice to have!

I realize this post places me in peril of not being taken seriously. But OK, here it goes...

I really believe a sword collector is allowed to have a litlle fun once in a while, and this sword is indeed just that fun.
My last purchase was the newly designed Generaration 2 Ranger. I know, I know..

But it handles great, with ample space on its 13" grip for a wide two handed grip. The blade is wicked fast, and really maneuverable. My only reservation about the blade is that, while not "whippy", for a good thruster it should probably be more rigid. But the sword has a great ergonomic grip, that is rock solid.

BTW, what are the chances of getting review on that MRL German Bastard Sword?