European Sword recommendations

[gregorio]

Nope. You could call him and ask him, if he hadn't gone to such lengths to make himself unreachable, his sales being handled by a seperate party. That alone speaks volumes.

I would appreciate some factual content to back up your allegation if you're going to speak poorly about someone

[Justin King]

I haven't made any allegations, and I didn't speak poorly of anyone. I suggested it might be worthwhile to do some research before doing business with him, and offered an obvservation based on the fact that he refuses to correspond directly with his customers. If you want to know why, do some research.

[FortyTwoBlades]

Fair enough. If you end up feeling in the mood to send me a PM about it I'd appreciate it but understand if you'd rather not have a hand in actively saying anything one way or the other.

It's kind of a moot point on my end at least, as I haven't been in the market for a sword for a while. I've been too busy hoarding scythes, shovels, and ocarinas.

[Justin King]

I edited my original post, but have not removed the original content due to the ensuing discussion. I took the time to do my own research (again) on the subject and found more up to date information. If anyone took my earlier posts as an allegation, please consider this post a retraction. My intent was to encourage a potential buyer to make an informed decision and was based on what I knew at the time, which as it turns out was not entirely current.

[horseclover]

If someone wants instant gratification in finding an ATrim, there is a quite nice older 1415 (XIIa) with custom work and a custom scabbard Tom Carr is selling on SFI and myArmoury. Otherwise, stand in line or buy other available ATrim pieces. Not only is the "six months" a general reality, the methodology and timing of Gus' stuff is going to seem haphazard to a lot of waiting customers. He is a one man shop running batches in his spare time. Swords do not cover his day to day expenses. Machine set up to run swords means he will be batching out of sequence in the order of how requests go in. Six months for a piece through Tried &True may easily be much more like a year.

This is not to bash Gus. I love him like a brother and although have not met him in person am probably closer to his feelings and realities than many looking at his swords. Indeed, closer even than a lot of his current fan base. At the price, it could be said they are worth the wait but wait you will unless you win the set up and stock lottery in his shop. You may yet see occasional in stock items at Tried & True but any watching know it has been some months since a "spare" has shown up.

I'll be candidly honest as well about the two I have. My tastes about many things have moved on and one I would probably sell in a heartbeat, the other almost as quickly but that one has more sentimental attachment. Still, they remain and it would be a "sure, I'll sell it" at an event. Great swords and in a way somewhat priceless while being affordable when you can get your hands on one. Otherwise, Del Tin, A&A and Albion surely have stock or much quicker turn around.

Cheers

GC