All Saints is now offering Retail bare blades. See the Swords page at the bottom:

http://www.allsaintsblades.com/Modles.htm

They are not cheep, however for a do it your selfer it may be worth it for a project. We do NOT do custom blades, so don't ask! :) Finnished or Unfinnished tangs, must include a modle number.

Please note we DO NOT sell parts, so if you get hung up with a blade and later want hiltings your SOL.....

Geez, took me a while to notice all of the new things on the site--must have missed it while I was fighting the French in Flanders...boy, I never thought mercenaries would be so useful...but anyway, that's another thread.

So, this is all good news to those of us who would like to try hilting blades, but what I'm wondering about is if you do/will do dagger blades as well; I think it would be a much better starting point.

Here's a question that might be useful to a lot of folks:

Does this mean one can now order atrim blade X, send it in to Christian Fletcher for hilt treatment Y, and still have everybody's pricing come out right?

. . . or does the pricing on Christian Fletcher's site assume he is shipped a complete sword?

just an FYI question for those of us who, most often lacking better judgement, can't just leave well enough alone ;)

An excellent question.....

Yes, my upgrade prices do assume that I'm starting with a complete, basic sword.

Josh,

i was just meandering about the web site [debating if i could use anything from the soon to be Don Nelson spring cleaning sale (tm)] and happened to click on the 1542 in the mercenary line. . .

. . . blade weight. . . hilt length from cross. . . ideal pommel weight? is this going to become standard fare on all the swords on the site? i'm assuming this is because the blades are now available separately and you and Gus wanted to make it just a little easier on folks hilting their own swords - trying to keep in each sword a little of the magic that makes an atrim feel like an atrim, no matter how far one tries to possibly dream away some fundamentals of what has been learned to be good sword design?

a good addition, interesting reading, very helpful for the do-it-yourselfer, but for some reason it feels a little like the magician just told me how to do some amazing magic trick he just performed for me on stage.

just a little something to think about :)

Hi Johnathon

Well yes you *could* buy a bare blade, ship it to CF, then CF would have to order parts or hand make them. Two problems a) we DONT sell parts, sword compleat or a bare blade :D and b) CF would probly charge an arm and or a leg to hand make them....

As for the 1542, there just old stats. The catigories you mention are 18 month old listings that I don't bother with any more. Thanks for pointing them out, I got most of them deletted, I'll do the 1542's tonight.

At the risk of sounding like a true moron, what precisely constitutes finished vs. unfinished tang? Although I have to watch my budget for a month or two (house needs new windows), this would allow me to do a couple pieces that are characteristically hungarian that nobody else will touch...

I think finished means that it comes with a threaded end for the pommel nut to screw onto, and unfinished is without threading.

However, I could be wrong.

Even more so:

Finnished is just as if you bought a sword from us; Threaded and finnished to fit a handle.

Unfinnished: No work done at all, just cut from the blank and heat treated.

Hi Rob

Actually, the blade is finished, including edge. Makes for some real care for the next guy down the line.....

Its the tang that isn't finished. The tang needs to be finished to the purchaser's requirements re how he/she intends to hilt it or have it hilted.........

Ahhh got it. Thanks Gus! :)

Now, would I be correct in assuming that the unfinished tangs come in a state where one could use the 'burn on' method of fitting the grip, and then anneal the tang end and peen it over a pommel?

On a side note, do you think it would make sense to include a 'suggested pommel weight' written on each tang in sharpie?

The PoB will also be affected, though relatively less so, by the mass of the guard (and the grip materials).
It seems to me that you might want to fabricate the desired guard first, taking care to keep it close to historical parameters, and install it on the sword. Then account for the grip mass by determining the weight of the materials and putting a glob of clay of equal weight at the center of the grip. Then see how much mass you need in the pommel (using a clay glob centered where the center of the pommel will be) to get the PoB where you want it. Then fabricate your pommel to meet that mass.
Just my thoughts, for what they're worth.

Brian M