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We have been very busy at Arms & Armor over the past several months. We figured it was time to bring everyone up to date and show what we have been working on.

We recently completed a large order of Rapiers and Daggers for the Globe Theatre in London.

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A highly detailed replica of the Sword of Gustav Vasa for an exhibition at the Royal Armouries in Stockholm , Sweden, for their current "A Whole World of Swords"exhibit.

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A pair of Town Guard Swords for the Frazier Arms Museum
Frazier Arms Museum in Kentucky.

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As well as a large group of items for several customers in Australia. Check the website for more pictures and details in the near future.

Our summer will be busy as well. You can see our items on display at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, WI, starting the second weekend in July through Labor Day and at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival from Mid August to the last weekend in September. Check out the new roof on the booth in Bristol. Three days of hard work and a smashed thumb later, it looks pretty good. The shingles are a composite recycled material that looks like slate. Great stuff to work with and earth friendly as well.

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Roofing at the Bristol Faire --------------------- Our booth at the MN Ren Festival


There are several interesting custom orders that we will detail on our Website in the coming months and have some new items that will be making their appearance in the fall/winter. Stay tuned for details.

In June we had the opportunity to observe portions of a traditional Japanese Tatara by invitation of Professor Wayne E. Potratz at the University of Minnesota. This was quite an opportunity as it was the first time this has been done outside Japan. The workshop was lead by Mr. Akira Kihara, Tatara Master and Muragi of the Nittho Tatara, Yakota, Shimane, Japan and President of Japanese Swordsmithing Association. Mr. Kihara is a "Intangible Cultural Asset" as designated by the Japanese government. He conducted an 11 day workshop; building and firing 2 Kodai (Ancient-style) tataras to make "tama-hagane", the steel used in the forging of the traditional Japanese swords. Mr. Kihara is the master in the production of "Tama-hagane" for the Japanese Swordsmiths of today. We where very pleased to give him a tour of our shop and watch his complete command of the smelting process in action. Our only regret is we where unable to take 11 days off to do the full workshop.

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**** We would like everyone to know we will be having a price increase in the next week or so. It has been so busy we have not had the lead time on this we usually like to send out but wanted to let those who where considering a purchase in the near future that this was on the way. ****
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I hope all had a good 4th of July

Best Regards
A&A Inc.

Great pics Craig, thanks!

It looks like you guys have been busy. I'm glad to see that everything's going well for the good folks at A&A.

Wow Craig, you've been REALLY busy (and I know that roofing isn't too fun either). Is the writhen rapier furniture out of bronze or is it gilded? It looks great! Really makes it POP!

Hi Craig,

Extraordinary work! I can't wait to see the future updates. It would be great to see some closeups of the the assortment of arms made for the Globe Theatre. I'll be on the lookout for the Town Guard swords next time I go back to the Frazier Museum.

Thanks guys.

The Globe rapiers that are Gold are done steel and then plated or gilded. I did some actual gold leafing on the Gustav Rapier for Stockholm.

I will be adding some detail shots of the globe stuff to the website in the near future.

Best
Craig

Having handled the original Gustav Vasa rapier on several occasions, I must say that you have produced a very fine reproduction. As for the other stuff: great! The US customers are fortunate indeed to have both Arms & Armor and Albion Armourers in their country.

Nice stuff Craig! Glad to hear the boys in Minnesota are keeping busy this summer.

That Bristol both is at a great location and makes for some excellent visiting. :D

Wonderful looking pieces, Craig ..... nice job !

Your roofing work looks fine as well ..... just a bunch of talent souls, you lot !

Best of luck this season, my friend ! Mac

Hi Guys,

Any updates on when the new pieces will be added to your line up and what they might be?