So, my Castle Keep custom Petersen type A late migration period.early viking age sword is finished and shipping out soon! The blade is EN45 steel. The guard and pommel are stainless,and the upper pommel has silver wire inlaying the grooves. The grip and scabbard are wood bound in natural vegetable tanned leather. The scabbard bar is carved horn. The metrics I gave him are 28" long blade that is 45mm wide at the base and tapers down to 40mm wide at the tip. The thickness is 4mm thick at the base and tapers down to 3mm at the end of the fuller, then tapers down to 2mm before the tip. The sword is not an exact duplicate of any one piece but instead is based on the small end of the historical metrics for Geibig type one blades, as Dr. Petersen was very vague about the blades on this type except that they were some of the smallest viking age swords.

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Nice clean work there from Mr. Miller. Can't wait for my commission to come up.

You've got some interesting choices there: the natural leather grip and scabbard, small size, the relatively short fuller for an Oakeshott type X (Geibig type 1?).

I'm partial to bigger, later blade types myself.

Thanks. Yeah, it’s hardly a blade type you see very often. I was primarily drawn to the Type A being the oldest of the Petersen typology, but the small size and non pattern welded blades were a plus. I’m not a very big guy and having a pattern welded custom sword would have been way beyond feasible for my budget.

It's an attractive sword but why are the hilt components done in stainless steel?

That leather color is very attractive and appealing, except that my experiences with similar leathers on antiquarian books tell me it is very easy to stain-even from oils in your hands. I would only want to handle that leather wearing white gloves, like they use in some museums and auction houses, for certain types of collectibles. Once light leather gets stained, I know of no way to bring it back to like new, which is a pity.
Best of luck, though,
Henry

Well I got word the sword arrived in America this morning so hopefully I’ll have some hands on thoughts on it real soon.

There was a thread a little while ago discussing how many makers use stainless of one type or another as a hilt material,
nothing unusual

having swords from this maker that have hilt materials from stainless to wrought iron to bronze to bone I don't doubt you will be happy with it,
I know a few of the fittings I have if done differently would have been well outside my budget at the time,
it looks a fine sword overall,
a healthy waxing to the leather will have it age naturally and it will look really nice,
excellent sword maker, :cool:

What’s really interesting is this manuscript page. Of all the colors to depict the scabbard and possibly the grip as, the artist chose this.

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Well, it’s out for delivery now! I’ll have my own thoughts later today.

It is AWESOME!!!! It has a POB of around 7” but is very light, making a very aggressive sword.

Imgur album linked here.

https://imgur.com/a/ILJ92lT

Gorgeous blade. I personally love that hilt type (and Petersen type H and I).

Is the emblem inlaid in another metal or is it etched?