ATrim Maker's Mark Type XVIa

I'm happy to say, I have the distinct pleasure of getting to own Gus Trim's first production Maker's Mark Type XVIa sword. He'd had been telling me about his plans for this design since sometime last fall. So far, the Maker's Mark line has been full of Type XIIs, XIIIs and XIVs...cutters with some thrusting ability. But nothing from the truly thrusting era. So I guess he was ready to move forward a bit in time. Since I am a big fan of the Albion Next Gen Crecy he said he thought I'd like his new Type XVIa very well. On his recommendation, I agreed to take the first one sight unseen.

The specs are:

Blade:
33" in length. A bit over 2" wide at the guard, slight taper for the first 21", then concave tapered "belly" to an acute "awl-like" tip. The portion of the blade from the fuller termination to the tip shows a very pronounced flattened diamond cross section. The blade is very rigid.

Grip:
8" (also available with 7") Comes standard with three risers.

Pommel:
Type H-I hybrid....mostly H. This is the same style pommel used on the Valiant Armoury ATrim Practical series sharp swords. Uses the ATrim-standard Allen head tubular nut, recessed into the rear of the pommel.

Guard:
Style 6, 8.5" long with a slight cusp at the center of the blade.

Fuller:
Beginning about 1/2" wide at the tang, it gradually reduces width until it tapers to a point about 14" from the tip.

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Unfortunately, upon arrival it was apparent that the shipping box had been greatly abused by FedEx. The first 1/4" of the tip was completely demolished. Other than that, the sword was unblemished. (Unfortunately, the other sword in the package was badly bent and twisted, looking like it had been placed over two logs and stepped on by a large cow :mad: )

I decided to fix the tip myself, so what you see here is the repaired tip, minus 1/4" overall. This picture also shows the termination of the tapering fuller and flattened diamond cross section pretty well.


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I asked to receive this sword with no leather on the grip, as I planned on a slightly different color and riser setup. Here are a couple of photos of the completed grip, with a good view of the pommel and nut arrangement.


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I have not had an opportunity to do any cutting, or even any drills with this sword yet. But it handles well in the confines of my living room and porch. It seems to have good power, but in a quite compact package. Handling with two hands, it seems fast and flashes from point to point. With one hand, it is a little slow when gripped with the hand touching the guard. But with the hand placed with the central risers centered in the palm it begins to handle more like a powerful single hander. One thing I am considering is sending it back to Gus to reduce the grip length to 7" to make it more of a true "bastard" sword. But I want to do some cutting and other testing with it first, before making up my mind.

This looks like it's going to be a winner for Gus Trim and Christian Fletcher.

Oh my...I need one of those. Humm I think I may need to sell some stuff to raise money for that. I don't really need my del tin anymore....

That is a great looking sword Mike. What is the overall length? 41" or so is what I come up with but want to be sure. Gus is an awesome smith and I really like what you did with the grip.

Scott

P, there's another one on the way to Christian Fletcher now. ;)

Thanks Scott. I am very happy with how this grip turned out. It's the first one I've done that you can't find the seam with a fingernail, though the little black line still stands out agains the lighter color dye.

The overall length is just shy of 43" and the weight is 2lbs 13ozs.

That sword looks like a real winner. In my opinion, XVIa's are the best all purpose blades, and I'm surpised they weren't used for a longer period of time back then. I bet this ATrim handles like a dream, cuts well, pierces well.

And a big boo to FedEx for mishandling the package :mad:

I think it's a fantastic looking sword that to me is one of Angus Trim's best, yet. The pictures have me wanting more, and I can't wait to get my hands on one.

Mike, can you tell us the current CoB & PoP? Any idea on a price point, and will it come with that guard standard? Also, when you say rigid, what would you say the blade tip vibrates to in width with a standard PoP test whap to the pommel?

Christian Fletcher has another one now. It will sell for $550, same as the other Maker's Mark longswords.

The PoB is dead on 4 inches. The forward vibration node (CoP) is very long, centered on the tip of the fuller, with a dead spot that runs about 4 inches in each direction. When you tap the pommel, the tip vibrates about an inch or so each way, and about the back third of the blade vibrates the same. A long swath of the blade near the fuller termination just sits stationary. That usually indicates an outstanding cutter that transmits hardly any shock on impacts.

Could someone please date this sword to a range of dates? I would appreciate the information.

Cheers, Adair

According to what Gus Trim told me, the initial inspiration was Oakeshott's XVIa.5 from Records of the Medieval Sword, page 156 in my copy. That sword is dated by Oakeshott to 1300-1325. However, looking at this sword one immediately notices that the pommel is smaller than the original and the guard is longer and somewhat different in shape. The blade seems a bit thicker toward the tip than the original. Photos in the books can sometimes be misleading I suppose. And of course, the threaded nut assembly is totally modern.

The grip was initially designed to be 7 inches on this sword, as on the original. But I understand that Christian Fletcher preferred 8" grips on the first ones, and Gus agreed. I'm seriously considering sending this sword back to Gus at some point, to have the tang shortened for a 7" grip and a larger pommel, to more closely match the original and to improve handling with one hand (I hope). But I'd like to get a full range of experience with it as an 8" girp first.