current sword custom makers

[cmcampbell]

Michael "Tinker" Pearce is very good and is a good guy as well. His sword book is a must read for things like center of percussion.

 

[Triton]

Michael "Tinker" Pearce is very good and is a good guy as well. His sword book is a must read for things like center of percussion.

He definitely popularized some of the knowledge about COP etc, which Angus Trim certainly picked up and ran with. Both guys managed to get themselves in hot water due to some shenanigans with undelivered but paid for products once upon a time. Maybe they eventually made good on their obligations I don't know.

 

[Ray Moayeri]

Hello all. I am new to the forum. I very much like the makers I have seen in this thread, and will certainly look to them for future collecting. Two sword makers that I have found previously myself, which I also really like, are Archangel Steel and Sabersmith, as well as the older maker Angel Sword (and Angel Steel/craft - not sure if this may be an older iteration of the ones I mentioned) I bought a pretty exotic Valentine 'Dagger' from Archangel Steel, which is really more of a short sword (23" lol)

The makers from these two are associated. To me, they seem to be post modern takes upon a very arcane sensibility, a bit surreal even. And they also appear somewhat grim, yet graceful.

To anyone who might know about these makers, would you kindly recommend others in a similar vein? Also, I will keep up with this thread for any other suggestions, as this thread has given me some great suggestions already!

 

[Triton]

Hello all. I am new to the forum. I like the makers I have seen in this thread. Two sword makers that I have found previously myself, which I also really like, are Archangel Steel and Sabersmith, as well as the older maker Angel Sword (and Angel Steel - not sure if this may be an older iteration of the ones I mentioned) I bought a pretty exotic Valentine 'Dagger' from Archangel Steel, which is really more of a short sword (23" lol)

The makers from these two are associated. To me, they seem to be modern takes upon a very arcane sensibility, a bit surreal even. And they also appear somewhat grim, yet graceful.

To anyone who might know about these makers, would you kindly recommend others in a similar vein? Also, I will keep up with this thread for any other suggestions, as this thread has given me some great suggestions already!

Welcome to the forum. For whatever it's worth I don't think that those makers are really in the same genre as some of those mentioned above. Their products are intended for and sold to Renaissance fair goers rather than folks that are interested in historical accuracy, performance or trying to recreate Western martial arts.

It's been years since I saw a sabersmith piece but the last time I did they were extremely heavy and in my opinion desperately overbuilt. That's not a bad thing if your target market is going to be bashing them into cinder blocks in the backyard but makes for rather heavy pieces that look more to Conan for inspiration than to history.

Angel sword is or was a slightly different flavor, in that at least some of their pieces that I have handled were better in terms of weight and balance. They are typically also fantasy inspired rather than anything remotely historical and in my opinion were dramatically over priced for what they are. That is unless you buy into the hype about living steel and super secret heat treatment processes. I don't.

I have never seen an archangel piece but a quick look at their website suggests that they are very much like sabersmith i.e. fantasy inspired over built pieces that are over weight by 30% or more.

I'm sure the above is coming off as a bit blunt although I hope not as offensive. In my opinion a sword is a product of history and the historical evolution that created a particular form. These modern efforts by definition can't do that because no evolution formed them. Therefore in my opinion the form is off and due to being often overweight and poorly balanced the performance is off as well.

 

[Ray Moayeri]

Thanks for the welcome! Well clearly you are more knowledgeable on the subject, and I am a relative beginner to swords, though I am a buff of medieval lore as well as fantasy fiction. Though, I was certainly aware that these makers weapons are not historical recreations. I just very much like the look and feel of their creations.

I definitely did not know, however, that they are not weighted properly for HEMA and such. I don't think I mentioned HEMA in my post, but by coincidence, I recently have been looking into HEMA, and looking to join a club. Are you by any chance a HEMA practitioner? If so I would really appreciate any advice about it, from where to find a good club, what kind of equipment I might need, and where best to score it, any advice about actual technique and practice, and anything else that might illuminate things. Again, I would really appreciate it.

On the subject of the weapons' weight, well this is just an outlandish idea that I have. I bought this moderately priced, but cool axe on Amazon. I've found it's pretty top heavy to swing around, but it feels like a good practice, to me at least. I know that in Tai Chi martial arts they use something called, I think, a war scepter, which is very heavy. While for HEMA, I am primarily interested in swordplay, I am also curious about weapons which are heavier to wield, like axe, mace, morningstar, pole arm, great sword, etc (though I'd imagine greatsword is still balanced lighter like you say).

Of course I don't question what ypo've stated, but I really do love these makers' creations (for the reasons I described... that I find them to be a post modern and surreal mode on an arcane form) So I will likely at least see if I can incorporate them into my practice, once I get started.

So again, thanks for the welcome, for all the great information, and in advance for any knowledge you'd be kind enough to impart to me about HEMA!

 

[Triton]

Thanks for the welcome! Well clearly you are more knowledgeable on the subject, and I am a relative beginner to swords, though I am a buff of medieval lore as well as fantasy fiction. Though, I was certainly aware that these makers weapons are not historical recreations. I just very much like the look and feel of their creations.

I definitely did not know, however, that they are not weighted properly for HEMA and such. I don't think I mentioned HEMA in my post, but by coincidence, I recently have been looking into HEMA, and looking to join a club. Are you by any chance a HEMA practitioner? If so I would really appreciate any advice about it, from where to find a good club, what kind of equipment I might need, and where best to score it, any advice about actual technique and practice, and anything else that might illuminate things. Again, I would really appreciate it.

On the subject of the weapons' weight, well this is just an outlandish idea that I have. I bought this moderately priced, but cool axe on Amazon. I've found it's pretty top heavy to swing around, but it feels like a good practice, to me at least. I know that in Tai Chi martial arts they use something called, I think, a war scepter, which is very heavy. While for HEMA, I am primarily interested in swordplay, I am also curious about weapons which are heavier to wield, like axe, mace, morningstar, pole arm, great sword, etc (though I'd imagine greatsword is still balanced lighter like you say).

Of course I don't question what ypo've stated, but I really do love these makers' creations (for the reasons I described... that I find them to be a post modern and surreal mode on an arcane form) So I will likely at least see if I can incorporate them into my practice, once I get started.

So again, thanks for the welcome, for all the great information, and in advance for any knowledge you'd be kind enough to impart to me about HEMA!

Like most people I just learn a little more everyday, I have just been at it a while. With respect to which organization to look into, it really depends on where you are geographically located. Typically if luck is with you there might be one organization that teaches some form of swordsmanship near you. For example the ARMA folks are in Atlanta. Personally I would look up the HEMA alliance folks and see what they have in your area. In general I have found their organizations tend to be less prickly and convinced that their way is the only way. Gear requirements are driven entirely by the organization you choose and what you are learning. They can point you to the best sources of what they require.

With respect to weapons or cars or postage stamps or whatever, we all like what we like. If you like the aforementioned makers there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, I was just mentioning why I don't think they are in the same genre with the previously mentioned makers.

I personally suspect that any training organization you join would discourage you from working out with overweight weapons, the idea that it would make you stronger seems reasonable but I suspect that it would also create poor technique and honestly most workouts are performed with wood or metal wasters rather than with live weapons.