Just a little heads up: new at MRL: http://www.museumreplicas.com/webstore/showproduct.asp . One of the nicer designs I've seen from Windlass in a while. :)

Sorry, the link just takes you to their site, not the specific page. :wtf: Here's a pic:

I saw that. I liked it quite a bit. The hilt detail looks quite nice, too. The scans on the Web page are horrible, but the catalog shows it better.

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Click the photo to go to the sword page

The Sword of St. Michael is another interesting new offering from MRL.

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Looks like they have some new and interesting stuff. The Sword of St. Michael is a double edged falchion. That something i've never heard before, plus, normally the definition of Falchion ussually includes the fact that it is single edged. Does anyone know if the newer Windlass models are being hot or cold peened?

They have a new "English" Rondel in the catalog too.

Price was low enough I ordered one, but it is already on backorder.

I wonder if they've misinterpreted the painting. Rather than being double-edged, this blade could be a standard, single-edge storta blade with two hollowgrindings creating a strengthening mid rib. Can't tell from the poor-quality online image of the painting. Off to my wife's art history texts!

Worst case, I get the piece and grind the back flat :D

I think you could be right Sean! Looks like they misinterpeted the picture. The light is catching the hollow ground edge and the perspective leaves the back of the blade in shadow, giving a false impression of a double edge blade. Still, it's an interesting piece! Almost worth it just for the fittings. If some one was handy and carefull, they could also grind down the back a little, flattening the back edge and giving it a more pronounced curve and clipped point. Hmmmmm! Ideas! Ideas!

When I got the catalog and saw the piece, I immediately looked for that picture. I also felt they were misinterpreting the painting, but who knows. MRL said the sword was on backorder for 30 days.

The more I think about it, the more I think MRL just botched it with this falchion/storta/malchus. I can be convinced otherwise, but I'd have to see evidence of a DE original. Otherwise, it's the grinder....

By the way, here's a fragment from another famous piece by the same artist (Battle of the Nudes). He obviously had an eye for this weapon. Look at the detail of the scabbards! This is last half of the 15th c. This illustration also anwers the question, "what's worse than having to fight an opponent armed with a 2' long razor?"

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Since this thread is branching out to talk about other brand new MRL offerings, I'll post this here. I'd love to see a slightly aged version of their new Sword of Granson. The desing of that one looks surprisingly well done, particularly the guard and pommel. In its brightly polished state it's slightly gaudy to my eyes (though not necessarily non-period), but with just a smidgeon of aging applied it could look very stately.

Anothe possibilty would be to do a leather wrap on the grip and chemically darken the fittings, which would give a slightly bronze appearance. Man, I'm too broke and busy lately for a DYI project, but I see some potential in that sword.

After the Irish Hand and a Half Sword, I swore to never again purchase a Windlass blade, but I really like the Italian Cut and Thrust Sword. It has nice lines. Not as nice as the Del Tin cut and thrust MRL offered many years ago (and reviewed here, if memory serves) but still very nice. Pity it would eat up half of my Crecy fund.

I ordered the Sword of St. Michael instead. I'm awfully curious. :)