Triton
Gold Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2000
- Messages
- 35,941
While at the bladeshow I made the grand tour, I tried to talk to all the sword guys, and whoever else had some interesting stuff as well.
The first stop was the CAS Iberia booth, this was just because it happened to be near the door. I hefted pretty much everything in the booth with mixed results. The practical viking seemed rather dead to me, it was blade heavy as well. The Godfred felt something along the same lines, I wasn't to horribly impressed with either sword. The William Marshall sword felt good until I tapped the pommel, I heard distinct rattling. I don't know if it was just that sword but you would assume that they would keep their display model in good shape. Some of the baskethilts that they had actually looked pretty decent with clean baskets that were not horribly big. Some of the daos they had also felt about right and had no noticeable rattling as well as some decent finishes. The thing that bothered me the most was the rat tail tangs in some of the swords (pointed out to me proudly by one of the employees) and the lack of knowledge displayed by the employees.
A few booths down I checked out the stuff from Sabersmith. Someone had mentioned it here so I thought I should check it out. The owner/smith whose name I disremember seemed to be a nice guy. His stuff was pure fantasy. It was heavy and some of it had spikes and such in some very inconvenient places. He also proudly showed me a picture of one of his swords (you guessed it) smashing through a cinderblock.
After that I bumped into Kevin Cashen. At his table he had some miscellanous knives (sorry guys if it's smaller then 7-8 inches I kind of ignored it, but he also had a gorgeous matching (or nearly so) pattern welded sword and dagger. Both weapons were nicely balanced and had well executed furniture as well. That cutlass that we have seen the pictures of here before was also in attendance. I don't know if the sword is still available but the dagger sold while I was standing there talking to Mr. Cashen. Almost everything on the table was marked sold.
The next stop was Vince Evan's table. He still had a baskethilt, a dirk, a viking sword, and a hanger. I of course played with all of them. I want them.
I then wandered to the back to the MRL booth. My opinion of their stuff was reconfirmed. Fullers were misaligned, balances were off, and honestly from an aesthetic prospective a lot of the stuff just looked gaudy. Oh well.
Finally I found the bladeart booth and played with some of Tinker's stuff. It was very Atrimish or I guess I should say that Atrim's stuff if very Tinkerish. Balances and weights felt the same as Atrim's for the most part but the finishes and furniture were more elaborate. There was a very nice hand and a half as well as a katzbalger that particularly caught my eye.
The first stop was the CAS Iberia booth, this was just because it happened to be near the door. I hefted pretty much everything in the booth with mixed results. The practical viking seemed rather dead to me, it was blade heavy as well. The Godfred felt something along the same lines, I wasn't to horribly impressed with either sword. The William Marshall sword felt good until I tapped the pommel, I heard distinct rattling. I don't know if it was just that sword but you would assume that they would keep their display model in good shape. Some of the baskethilts that they had actually looked pretty decent with clean baskets that were not horribly big. Some of the daos they had also felt about right and had no noticeable rattling as well as some decent finishes. The thing that bothered me the most was the rat tail tangs in some of the swords (pointed out to me proudly by one of the employees) and the lack of knowledge displayed by the employees.
A few booths down I checked out the stuff from Sabersmith. Someone had mentioned it here so I thought I should check it out. The owner/smith whose name I disremember seemed to be a nice guy. His stuff was pure fantasy. It was heavy and some of it had spikes and such in some very inconvenient places. He also proudly showed me a picture of one of his swords (you guessed it) smashing through a cinderblock.
After that I bumped into Kevin Cashen. At his table he had some miscellanous knives (sorry guys if it's smaller then 7-8 inches I kind of ignored it, but he also had a gorgeous matching (or nearly so) pattern welded sword and dagger. Both weapons were nicely balanced and had well executed furniture as well. That cutlass that we have seen the pictures of here before was also in attendance. I don't know if the sword is still available but the dagger sold while I was standing there talking to Mr. Cashen. Almost everything on the table was marked sold.
The next stop was Vince Evan's table. He still had a baskethilt, a dirk, a viking sword, and a hanger. I of course played with all of them. I want them.
I then wandered to the back to the MRL booth. My opinion of their stuff was reconfirmed. Fullers were misaligned, balances were off, and honestly from an aesthetic prospective a lot of the stuff just looked gaudy. Oh well.
Finally I found the bladeart booth and played with some of Tinker's stuff. It was very Atrimish or I guess I should say that Atrim's stuff if very Tinkerish. Balances and weights felt the same as Atrim's for the most part but the finishes and furniture were more elaborate. There was a very nice hand and a half as well as a katzbalger that particularly caught my eye.