[Ralf Koblatzki]

Greetings from Germany,

it's a kind of old german. "In Treue fest"
I think you could translate it like lat. "semper fidelis" -> "für immer treu"

oh i found a description....... :-)
attention now german
"Wahlspruch des Wittelsbacher Hausritterordens vom Hl. Hubertus und der königlich-bayerischen Armee"
It was the slogan from the knights of "Heiligen Hubertus" from the royal bavarian army.......

oh shi.... my english is horrible.
bye
Ralf

[Stephen Curtin]

So here are some pics of my first sword, made by Rob Miller.

[Nathan Robinson]

[Stephen Curtin]

[Brian K.]

[Stephen Curtin]

[Chris Artman]

[Stephen Curtin]

[Stephen Curtin]

So here are some rough stats for my rob miller sword

Blade length 33"
Overall length 38 3/4"
Weight 2.58Lb
P.O.B 5" from the guard

I suppose it a big enough sword but what I was looking for

[Quinn W.]

[Michael MacLeod]

My first sword was a stainless steel scottish short sword that broke at the hilt and later became a dirk. My first real sword was a Hanwei Albrecht II sword. It is a bit distressed and the pommel is loose but it is still functioning.

[Stephen Curtin]

[Stephen Curtin]

Well my Rob Miller sword just arrived, save and sound a few minutes ago and I have to say that the pics I posted earlier do not do it justice. Its much prettier in real life Its so pretty I think I will have to come up with a name for her, any suggestions people

[Craig Shackleton]

Here's a not very good picture of my first swords.

The lower one is my very first sword, not counting ones I made out of wood or cardboard or stuff like that. It is a cheap knock off katana, a gift from my mother. I received this sword around 1985 or 1986. You probably can't see the chips along the edge where the chrome is flaking off what appears to be copper or a copper alloy below. It is not remotely sharp. The faux ivory is about as faux as you can get. The scabbard is probably the best crafted part of it, although it (like the sword) has seen some terrible abuse.

Obviously, it's really a piece of junk, but I have fond memories of it nonetheless. If nothing else, it's a good reminder of where I started, and where I've come from there.

The upper one is what I consider my first 'real' sword, although I'm sure it doesn't correspond to a historical type. The blade had been milled from spring steel (don't know the exact type) and was sitting around my friends garage for years along with two others. In 1999 I paid to have them hardened and then we worked together to put the furniture together for all three, and I kept this one for myself. we tempered them along the fuller, and the dark fuller is the result of not polishing out the colouration form hardening and tempering. Up close you can still see the heat colours from the tempering.

The edge is unbelievably hard but the softer centre gives enough flex that it isn't brittle. Immediately after we finished putting it together, my friend pounded with it on the steel post supporting the roof of his carport until the post was vibrating about three inches out of line, and this abuse left no mark on the sword.

The sword is a practice sword, so the edge was left about as thick as a dime. After bouting against other sword, I normally have to file the tailings of their edges off my sword, but mine has taken no damage. A friend once borrowed it for a bout, and cut through a 2 inch thick spear shaft with it. I stopped loaning it out at that point, and actually, I rarely use it for anything other than drill. It is really way too heavy as well, although the balance is excellent.

The pommel was welded in and is just a chunk of mild steel (AFAIK). The hilt was silverbrazed on. The grip was made in two parts and fits the full tang exactly. I believe it is mahogany, the wood came from an old barrel my friend bought to recycle the beautiful wood. After my first day of using the sword, I added the brass studs (clipped nails driven into drilled holes) because the wood proved to be slippery in my hand.

A friend of mine made the scabbard for it, which is just medium weight leather with no core. It fits well and works well though. I usually wear it at my right hip, and draw it on the right, even though I am right handed. It's just a personal preference, and I set up the belt to work that way.

I cannot ever foresee another sword replacing this one as the pride of my collection, unless I somehow get the opportunity to forge the blade for one myself

[Mark A Smith]

My First Sword was an early Del Tin 2132, what MRL called the "Santese Sword" before they were bought out by Windlass Steelcrafts. It was the early 80's and I was visiting Boise, ID, when I happened into a cutlery shop that was going out of business. Everything was 50% off. I saw that Del Tin 2132 and fell in love at first sight. The Cocked-Hat Pommel, the tapered, flatened crosspiece. I snapped it up for $125.00! The next day I went back and got a DT 2133 Brazil Nut Pommel with a wire grip and plain Crossguard for the same price.

I still have my first sword, though I've passed my 2133 on to my son, who is still active in reenactments.

[Julien M]

[William Swiger]

My first sword was the Windlass Fantasy Viking Sword. Still have it.

[Greg Ballantyne]

My first sword was a DSA Scottish Claymore. I still have it, since I bought it less than a year ago. I have the second ordered, a Gen 2 River Witham. The new production run is going to come out in about a month. I've got a space reserved in line at Tritonworks for upgrades to both..... then perhaps I'll go for a higher quality or custom sword.
Although I've been a sword appreciator for many years I've only recently began doing anything about it.

[Marik C.S.]

...you remember owning.

Well I got thinking today about how I got into swords and all that shiny - and not so shiny - medieval stuff.
And honestly, I can't remember.
It has always been a thing for me, sometimes more acute than others and with varying points that focused my attention over time but never far from me.

Not remembering in general isn't really a great place to start a trip down memory lane, but I did remember something else.

The first sword (-ish thing) I remember owning. Now it is most certainly not the first thing of that category there was for me, far from it. It is merely the one I seem to remember most right now and in most detail.

Feel free to join in, I'd love to hear other what other people have as their first remembered contact to swordy stuff (Or general Arms&Armour for that matter, I just like to stick to swords due to my particular example).

As far as I'm concerned this first sword can be anything. A stick you imagined to be your sword, a piece of cardboard cut into vaguely cross-shape with a point on one end, a toy of any shape or size - might even be a particular piece of Lego you got really attached to. Or it might have been a "real" sword either wooden or maybe even steel?
I would specify though that it should be something you particularly identified as "your sword" (or other piece of Arms&armour) not just something sword-like you happened to own. I'm assuming people here know what I mean by that because I can't think of a better way of describing this.

Now without further ado, the sword I did remember wasn't a sword at all. It most certainly wasn't the first contact, I've seen pictures of me that put that particular milestone way further back.
I actually was a pendant I got - after a lot of fuss I'm sure, though I choose not to remember that - on a renaissance faire when my family and I were visiting my uncle. I remembering it being outrageously expensive for what it was - but then again, when are things on a ren-faire ever reasonably priced, right?
What it was, was a sword made from pewter, the grip covered with red enamel which to me back then looked very much like ruby. Very simple shape, what Looking back I'd call an Oakeshott Family H type. I remember distinctly, that it fit the hand of a Lego-Figurine perfectly though it was massively too long for it's size - if I'm not mistaken it might have towered 1.5 times as tall as the figurine in question, so about 3" on the sword I'd guess.
As one can imagine, quite thin items made from pewter and playing with it like Lego don't go well together. I think it survived about a week, possibly less, before the blade snapped off.

Come to think of it, this might just be my only broken sword so far, I don't remember breaking my wooden ones as a kid (though those owned by other people did suffer a bit) and the steel have all survived well through quite harsh HEMA training over the last couple of years.

Let's see what kind of anecdotes you come up with, meanwhile I'm going to jump on Google-Image search and try to dig up something similar to what I remember.

[Luka Borscak]

My first steel sword was Hanwei Practical singlehander. I was never really happy with it, I wanted a longsword, but I had no money for Hanwei Bastard available at the same store. I later sold it and gathered more money and got a Windlass 15th century longsword. The sword I still regret selling.