Hi,
I thought that I would mention the work of Tim Noyes, a swordsmith from Kent, England. I have quite a few of his blades and he is currently making me a set of greaves and vambraces like the ones found in the grave 8 at Valsgärde in Sweden. He is making them out of pre 1800 iron and they should be interesting when finished. Most of his work is for re-enactors to bash each other with but he does turn out some custom work as well.

I will add some pictures of his work that I own in other posts -- but in order to justify the title of this post hers is a picture of three seaxes that Tim has made.


Cheers,

Paul

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Here is one with scabbards.

Paul

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mmmmm...seax nudity....

Just a way of getting your attention, Alina.

Here is Tim's version of an early gladius with atrophied antennae.

Paul

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and a Germanic spatha.....

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:cool: (whistle..whistle) :D

Could you post his contact info? It is always nice to add another smith to the list of those available.

Hi Alina,
Here is Tim's website. Please bear in mind that websites are not one of his stronger talents.

http://www.btinternet.com/~heronarmoury/

In the meantime here is a 7th century, Anglian, patter welded spearhead.

Cheers,

Paul

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I like the middle seax very much. I was going to comment on the title of the thread, but Alina beat me to it. There a plenty of good smiths out there who aren't exactly website designers so I won't hold that against him. ;) Fair warning not to look at it in Firefox though as most of it won't load.

I like the handle on the second one. Very nice design.

If people are interested in later medieval and tudor daggers etc, another possible UK website is Interknife (address below). The name doesn't really indicate their business very well as it sounds like a general sports knife vendor but they specialise in medieval reproductions. If people already know this site, sorry.

Although some of the site has become more commercialised of late (last looked 4 years ago before today) and their site presentation is a bit naff, some of their medieval stuff I think is really good. Four years ago I bought one of their medieval Athames for decoration. Due to lack of stock they offered me the one-off Athame they'd made for display at shows around the UK, which I bought. Cost £150 I think, hand-made vegetable dye scabbard, solid sterling silver cross-guard, pommel and ferrule (Hallmarked on the pommel), Damascus blade (though I think that was a one-off for display and not very authentic historically), bog-wood hilt. The engraving on the silver ferrule is superb (I think they must have cast it and then cleaned up). I would send photos but don't have a scanner yet. But in terms of fit and finish, authentic look and complete solidity (very strong in blade and hilt and no rattle whatsoever) it is a really nice item. Better made than any recreation/reproduction I'd seen to date. But then quality varies over time and people's expectations are different, but the site is worth checking out.

Daniel


http://www.interknife.co.uk/main.html

A note before this goes too far... Others younger browse this forum too.

As long as we are mentioning often overlooked smiths in the uk, thought I'd give a mention to Tod from http://www.todsstuff.co.uk I have the upper of the two "misericordia" displayed on his site, cost me about 80 pounds if I remember rightly. His work is of high quality and the prices are low, considering what you get for your money.

He's got some really nice stuff (Tod) on his site hasn't he. Similar price to the Interknife ones but more variety. I'm quite tempted by his cook's knife set in the leather case as my cooking knives are soon heading for the great culinary graveyard in the sky.

Paul, are you going to the London International Antique Arms & Armour Fair this weekend ? I'm just about to head off there with a friend. 73 stalls so should be some very interesting stuff as usual.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,
I won't be able to make the London Arms Fair. But both Todd and Interknife will be at Temple Cressing Barns on May 6th and 7th. Tim Noyes will probabl;y be there, too, but he won't be selling weapons himself.

Maybe see you there.

Cheers,

Paul

Here are four spears, including a boar spear and two light throwing spears.

Paul

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I want a boar spear! Apparently there's plenty of wild boar to hunt in California near where I live.

Then I could do you a deal!

Paul