Question on a maker

Walkindude

Walkindude

Joined
Feb 20, 2007
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402
Anyone here ever heard of a sword maker named Rob Johns, out of Enid Oklahoma?

I believe his business was called Medieval Customs.


Just wondering I saw a little write up on him in either Blade Magazine, Or Knives Illustrated years ago. And saw some of his work while I was in the SCA.

I have one of his blades I picked up..along time ago, was just curious if anyone had heard of him here ?
 
Walkindude said:
Anyone here ever heard of a sword maker named Rob Johns, out of Enid Oklahoma?

I believe his business was called Medieval Customs.


Just wondering I saw a little write up on him in either Blade Magazine, Or Knives Illustrated years ago. And saw some of his work while I was in the SCA.

I have one of his blades I picked up..along time ago, was just curious if anyone had heard of him here ?
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I believe I worked on one of his swords once. I tried to find some more information on him at the time and only found a dead web link. To be honest I don't recall that the sword was anything more then serviceable although I have no idea if it was representative of his work or not.
 
Thanks Triton !

Mines definetly servicable, just wish I knew what type of steel though :confused: I'm guessing 1095.

Its a pretty stout blade, with bronze quillons and brass pommel, nothing fancy. Hilts long enough for two hands but a nice handy short blade.
Its 40 inches OAL, Blade 28 1/4 and 1 3/4 wide, about 3.5 pounds.

Kind of fond of it, just wish I knew more about it,,,oh well :rolleyes:
 
Walkindude said:
Thanks Triton !

Mines definetly servicable, just wish I knew what type of steel though :confused: I'm guessing 1095.

Its a pretty stout blade, with bronze quillons and brass pommel, nothing fancy. Hilts long enough for two hands but a nice handy short blade.
Its 40 inches OAL, Blade 28 1/4 and 1 3/4 wide, about 3.5 pounds.

Kind of fond of it, just wish I knew more about it,,,oh well :rolleyes:
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Sorry, wish I could tell you more, the maker didn't do a very good job of publicizing himself unfortunatly. You don't happen to be able to post pics of it?
 
Walkindude said:
I havent figured out how to post pics yet, lol
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Well to post pictures here you have to be a paying member. Alternately you can link a picture from another site. Just copy the url and then click the little icon above that looks like a mountain and sun and copy the link in...
 
if hes the guy I think, all his blades were D-2

string wrapped handle, no taper, high polish, brass mounts?

Much of his work was sold by a comapny in FL (and at the Georgia Ren fair at one time) called Silver Castle. They of course claimed to make everything......
 
Thats sounds like him !
I remember the article mentioning his work with D2, but other carbons as well

And all his baldes I ever saw were cord/string wrapped hilts, his swords all had a certain style to them.

Hmmmmmmm interesting, :cool:
 
they were untapered 1/4 D-2, I would indeed call that stout!

usually he had a very high finish on everything, they were not very cheap for the time as well!
 
Yes the finish is beautiful, blade almost looks like a stainless, course I guess it almost is, lol
And its definetly stout and well put together.
 
I know this is a very old thread, but I was looking for current info on this maker as well and ran across it. I sold these swords for a few years at the Ren Faires in California. When I first started selling them I was told they were made from D2 Tool Steel. Later on, I was told they were made out of 6150 Spring Steel. We never sold the swords as tempered steel and we primarily sold them as costume/prop pieces or to "Live Steel" fighters who were crazy enough to put on armor and beat on each other. We sold a high polish blade and a "satin" finish.

As for the maker, my understanding was that he was a machinist based in Enid, OK, and the swords were manufactured from steel, brass, bronze, nickel, etc. from scrap lots. Thus the shape, style and material of the pommels and guards were determined by what came in the lots. We never knew what to expect in a shipment of swords when we would receive our orders.

On very rare occasions, we would get short swords, daggers, cutlasses, thin blades, two-handed long swords, etc. Mostly though, the shipments were hand-and-a-half bastard swords made from 1/4" stock. Regardless of the style, all of the swords were full tang with cord wrapped hilts and the Medieval Customs stamp on the ricasso.
 
ancientfrog said:
I know this is a very old thread, but I was looking for current info on this maker as well and ran across it. I sold these swords for a few years at the Ren Faires in California. When I first started selling them I was told they were made from D2 Tool Steel. Later on, I was told they were made out of 6150 Spring Steel. We never sold the swords as tempered steel and we primarily sold them as costume/prop pieces or to "Live Steel" fighters who were crazy enough to put on armor and beat on each other. We sold a high polish blade and a "satin" finish.

As for the maker, my understanding was that he was a machinist based in Enid, OK, and the swords were manufactured from steel, brass, bronze, nickel, etc. from scrap lots. Thus the shape, style and material of the pommels and guards were determined by what came in the lots. We never knew what to expect in a shipment of swords when we would receive our orders.

On very rare occasions, we would get short swords, daggers, cutlasses, thin blades, two-handed long swords, etc. Mostly though, the shipments were hand-and-a-half bastard swords made from 1/4" stock. Regardless of the style, all of the swords were full tang with cord wrapped hilts and the Medieval Customs stamp on the ricasso.
Click to expand...

I just purchased one of these at a fund-raiser silent auction, and am trying to find out more about the swords myself. No scabbard on this one, unfortunately. Anyone know anything more?
 
Search for this maker on Google, which should lead you to another forum, where i saw a number of threads regarding this fellow and Medieval Customs. I typed in "Medieval Customs Swords". First page, second hit down.
 
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