image hosting test (a dagger of course)

[shortgoth]

Just to see if tripod will let me remote-access pictures.

Guingate dagger from JJJ Vaciacraft. 20" OAL, 13" twin edged fullered blade of unspecified carbon steel, brass furniture and hardwood macassar ebony handle, weigs in at 1lb 9oz, blance point just in front of guard.

Have virtually no knowledge of the company even after asking about it on various threads elswhere on BF, but they look pretty enough and are certainly functional

 

[Keith Montgomery]

The products of this Philippine based company seem to have pretty good quality. I am not sure if you have seen this site, so here is a link to the U.S. distributor.

Excalibur

 

[shortgoth]

Thanks for the link Keith. I had seen that site a while ago (you provided the link after my asking about the company on the sword discussion forum IIRC) and I liked what I saw then just as well as the selection available at Southern Swords from where I purchased this.

However, the "only company certified" for heat treating still sounds a bit off to me. Certified by who? And does that mean Kris cutlery aren't certified?

I also found various other sites featuring Vacicraft, but they also had what I consider to be spurious claims. One claimed it was a one-man forge. Not possible given the huge number of Vaciacraft swrods and knives offered by various sites. Another site gave the heat-treat figures of 40RC for swords and 55RC for knives. Also yet another site said it passes the "steel on steel" test as well as "the 2"x4" test" without explaining exactly what these are. 2x4 is pretty self-explanatory, but steel on steel could mean anything from simple beating to full combat, with factory edges or blunted, any number of different actions and variances.

Anyway, this was just a test, not supposed to be a discussion, but just thought I'd thank you for the link. However sketchy the details are on the maker, the dagger looks and feels great, and I'm thinking of getting more from them. I think the matching Guingate sword has to be the next purchase.