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Ruel A. Macaraeg

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Posts: 306

Thu 08 Sep, 2005 7:59 pm

Thomas McDonald wrote:

Ruel A. Macaraeg wrote:

This one is mine, I believe -- the one I bought from the Armour Class shop when I was in Glasgow last year.

Hi Ruel

That's a fine looking piece ..... what does it weigh in at ?

Feel free to post some better pics of it (as the good ones I had were lost to 'ol EZ Shots going belly up ) !

Mac

Hi Mac,

My camera's left town for the week unfortunately, so pix will have to wait till later. But here are a few quick stats:

Length: about 61"
Weight: just under 5lbs
COB: almost right at the shoulders

Pros: The weight and balance are near perfect, and the sword glides in your hands.

Cons: The blade is so thin that it's as whippy as a proverbial WuShu sword, and it tends to wobble quite a bit when swung with force. I haven't test-cut with it, but I suspect it will give against even moderately hard targets. On the other hand, it can literally be bent into a half-circle with no problem, so never worry about breaking it.

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Thomas McDonald

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Posts: 2,160 Location: New Hampshire

Fri 09 Sep, 2005 4:50 am

Ruel A. Macaraeg wrote:

Hi Mac,
My camera's left town for the week unfortunately, so pix will have to wait till later. But here are a few quick stats:
Length: about 61"
Weight: just under 5lbs
COB: almost right at the shoulders
Pros: The weight and balance are near perfect, and the sword glides in your hands.
Cons: The blade is so thin that it's as whippy as a proverbial WuShu sword, and it tends to wobble quite a bit when swung with force. I haven't test-cut with it, but I suspect it will give against even moderately hard targets. On the other hand, it can literally be bent into a half-circle with no problem, so never worry about breaking it.

Thanks, Ruel !

Hmm, what is the thickness of the blade up near the hilt ?

Also, thank you for sharing your pictures with me .... I will resize a bunch of them them to fit the board here !
(Ruel took several shots of Armour Class's workshop when he visited Allan & the boys last summer !)

Meanwhile, here is an unidentified gentleman, at Glasgow University, holding your Armour Class claymore !
( Is this you, Ruel ?, or are you manning the camera ?) Mac

Edit : Ruel wrote: "This is my claymore, held by a fine Scottish gentleman who's the managing technician for several buildings on the Glasgow University campus. He's probably about 5'9", to give some frame of reference. Despite my best efforts to hide it, the box was too big not to attract the notice of my fellow conference delegates and I had to let them all have a few swings with the sword."

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Thomas McDonald

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Posts: 2,160 Location: New Hampshire

Sat 10 Sep, 2005 12:17 pm

Hi Ruel
How did you get this sword home ... did you ship it ? Did you have to pay VAT at AC, or after the fact ?

Thanks, Mac

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Ruel A. Macaraeg

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Posts: 306

Sat 10 Sep, 2005 8:28 pm

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Hmm, what is the thickness of the blade up near the hilt ?

It's about 1/8", if I'm measuring correctly... really thin.

Quote:

Is this you, Ruel ?, or are you manning the camera ?

Yeah, I look alot less authentically Scottish -- here's me on another recent myArmoury thread:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=4627

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How did you get this sword home ...

It went with my check-in luggage in that cardboard box in the back, believe it or not. Over the past couple years, I'm managed to get some 40 knives and other hand weapons from overseas through my luggage, but this was the biggest by far! :surprised:

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Arne G.

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Posts: 126

Sun 01 Aug, 2021 8:35 pm

Thomas McDonald wrote:

Joe Maccarrone wrote:

Thomas McDonald wrote:

Castle Keep claidheamh dà làimh, by Rob Miller, Isle of Skye Mac

I love the way Rob carves the knotwork into some of his Claymore handles.
Are there historical examples of this? Sure is purty. :D

Hi Joe

Beyond basket-hilts (even a rapier) , I can't recall seeing an original claymore handle that featured fully carved interlace ?

But I'm far from having seen all that is out there, so who knows ? Mac

While I've not seen any Claymore grips with carving, I do recall an early dirk (c. 1650) with two bands of simple interlace carving on each end of the grip (see Forman's "The Scottish Dirk", pg. 9, fig. 7). So while there is no direct evidence, I wouldn't consider it implausible that a claymore might have simple decoration, particularly given the examples with narwhal horn grips.

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