Very cool, Peter. I look forward to the complete finished packaged. I think you will have very good value for money when you're finished considering it cost what, $150?

Thanks Ian! The wood I used for the bridge and grip were offcuts from other projects, as was the leather. The grip wrap was left over from my other swords, the gun blue was (funnily enough) left over from bluing gun parts and the dyes were both bought for leatherwork projects I've long since forgotten - so, my 'total' other than labor has really just been the purchase + shipping cost :D

Looks good, Peter - if you had posted that picture a month ago and told me it was a Deepeeka I'm not sure I would have believed it. They are improving, and you have in turn improved that sword in my opinion.

Thanks Greg!

The sword and scabbard are bordering finished... I'll post pictures when I have some daylight to take them!

I love what you're doing with that. Looks great. I am inclined to say go for it with the red and black scabbard... I think it would look pretty swanky. I've seen some great Sutton Hoo scabbards in oxblood/red and I think this nicely modified sword could pull it off just as well.


Thanks for the review, too. I think I'll pass on this one, as the silhouette is pretty similar to the Hanwei Practical Viking I already picked up. But I'm definitely going to spring for a Hersir as soon as Kult of Athena has one in stock!

Thanks Peter :D i did decide to go black and red on the scabbard - I'm not sure whether the Vikings would have used it, but I think it looks rather nice! The similarity to the practical viking did strike me also, I had one when I was younger - sturdy blade!

Impatience did win out, I took some pictures - forgive the flash photography that has ran rampant in this thread, I do usually try to avoid it!

[ Linked Image ]
[ Linked Image ]
[ Linked Image ]

I stripped the scabbard of the finish with nail polish remover (thanks to the recent thread about stripping windlass scabbards - I thought plastic covered scabbards were beyond hope!) and dyed it oxblood on the body and black on the chape and throat. The oxblood showed up way more purple than I expected - I think it may have been because of the semi-sealed leather. Anyway, I put some black dye on a rag, wiped most of it off and then went over the scabbard with it to darken the purple, then did the grip to match. I got it a bit darker than intended, so I think I'll try to tone it back a bit.

Pretty happy with how this turned out :D

Your bridge is great. Really improved the look of the scabbard. By the way, I notice deepeeka has a scabbard with bridge on at least three other 'viking' swords, perhaps they will switch the godfred over as well?

thanks for the positive review. the fittings are mild steel. the off center recess blade/guard is a mis-fit on this particular sword, it should have been recessed on both sides. Sorry about that, there are still some quality control issues in production. These swords have turned out to be very popular and may have been rushed a bit.

You are correct, by law, all indian swords are exported as replicas and must be dull. There are some small outfits that work around that but Deepeeka is far to large and well known to do that.

Deepeeka is indeed on a quest to upgrade it's products, all new production weapons should be of similar, improved quality.

Ian - perhaps, but to be honest I kinda like the leather chape on one sword, at least! I'm pretty happy with how the bridge on this turned out, and I wound up taking the sword to the grinder the other day to flatten out the tip - it's much thinner now, and the diamond section is completely gone. Did some more refining of the edge, too!

Keith - I would expect some quality control issues in a piece at this cost, especially this early in development - to an extent I'm looking at this sword as a prototype, and it shows great promise and fantastic value. I am also well aware that in mass-production, unless computer-control is used for everything, the experience of the workers in making the item is very relevant - in the first few batches of any new product, there will be mistakes as people adjust. This has been a fun project, and I have no doubt that the Hersir will be as well - I thank all at Deepeeka for that!

Ahh, that looks great! I think the oxblood and black looks pretty dandy; I'm glad you went with that. The strap bridge works so well here too. That's an awesome carving job.

Great strap bridge! The raven symbols really work. With the oxblood finish and the raven bridge, I would name the sword 'RavenBlood'..............but that's just me. Beautiful sword....truly a rags to riches transformation. Fabulous work. ...McM

Thanks Peter! I'm pleased with how it worked out as well, my concerns were in vain!

Thanks Mark - that's a great name, I think I shall if you don't mind :D It's already had a nip of my blood as I was honing the edge :eek:

I got the baldric done today, just waiting on everything drying - the baldric is 3/4" and also Oxblood.Looks rather nice if I do say so m'self :D

Hrafn-blóð!

Looking forward to seeing the baldric. :)

A fine name for a sword :D

I posted the Baldric in a new thread, since I also did the baldric for another sword and I didn't want to clutter this thread up further - http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=28098 :D

I don't suppose you've given a look to the Hersir? I'm eyeing it, myself... :)

Here is the Culloden Targe that I mentioned earlier. It is 19 inches in diameter and the spike is about 7 inches long. The shield is 5/8 inch thick. I have not weighed it. The lighting I used for the photo washed out the color but it is a reddish brown with a bit of antiquing here and there. The straps for arm and hand are a bit large, as to be expected. but over all it is a well-done piece.

Don't want to take this thread off topic but this is an example of the improvement in quality of some Deepeeka Items.

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Lin,

That looks much better than the ones I remember from a decade ago. Do you know if this is going to be the new direction for all Deepeeka products or just a special selection?