Does A&A offer grip colors other than their standard black and brown on their swords? I am not talking about a custom piece but on the swords they offer for sale. If so is there any extra charge?

I will probably call them and ask but just thought I would check with other forum members first.

They will give you whatever kind of grip you want, but I can't say how the pricing would work on a production sword.

They put a nice red hilt on my training sword. Even asked if I wanted something when designing the beauty so I imagine that for their regular stuff it won't be a problem. It was a little more expensive though.

Here is a red-gripped Grunwald that I got from them. As for whether different colors cost extra, it is best to ask them.

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Hi John

The quick answer is yes we can :) Grips are one of the areas where many people today are not looking for the historical variety we see in period art and examples. The modern sword buying public is usually looking for black, brown and maybe oxblood coloring on their grips. When we talk with customers few of them are looking for the bright or fancy work done in period on many swords. The additional cost need to do these treatments is not what the customer is interested in. Though I do have to admit that most of the below examples that are getting closer to period were made for participants here at myArmoury. I would not call the readers here your average purchaser :)

Here are some examples of what we can do on custom and stock items beyond what you can see on our normal line of swords.

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Here you see some of the other colors that can be added for minimal additional cost. We can also do ribs and imprints in the leather with cord as depicted on the two on the left. The mottled colors are due to the wax we use to shrink the grips and will vary per grip. The cost is based on the time and effort it takes to achieve the result you desire. The leather can be glued or stitched and there are additional variations you can see below.


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Here you see more leather grips but ones that are brighter colors and worked with decorative additions and detail in the leather itself. This can be seen on many period examples, especially on higher status swords. The two on the far right are a bit different. One is knotted cord work combined with wire and the other is done with imprinted leather to imitate shark or fish skin as done in period.

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Here you can see some of the fancier wire work that can be done adding shapes beneath the wire, precious metals, bands and fancier twist patterns.

So you can see we are happy to do grips above and beyond what you see on our standard items and many of them would be very period. It is often a budget decision by the customer on what they are interested in. A period customer would probably think the demonstration of his good taste and status was well worth doubling or tripling the cost of his sword for grip and scabbard work. Today the variety of options for these parts of the sword are large but many customers are conscious of their budget and do not feel the expense is as important as their historical counter parts.

If you see something you like drop me an email and we can discuss what options you are interested in. Arms & Armor

Best
Craig

PS Here is a good thread about the historical leather work we can do.

I recognize 3 of those grips - they're on swords you made for me. I remember for that blue grip, you really went the extra mile to find the right color dye that I had requested - for some reason blue was very scarce in Minnesota.

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A&A Alexandrian Arsenal XXa

Those grips look awesome. One of these days I'm going to order a durer bastard with a customized grip.

Thanks Craig and everyone else. You answered my question. When I do decide to order another sword I will talk to you about grip colors. Thanks.

Roger, as has already been said, those grips are beautiful!

One of those looks familiar to me too. Here's some more of Craig's handiwork: