This new Sword of St. Catherine has a fine damascus blade and five crosses etched on it. The pommel is hand ground and lots of file work, with woodcore grip with hemp cord and thin leather wrap. It is soon to be in my website but as of yet only pics are over in the general forum of SFI. If someone were to bring over the pictures here that would be great, as I would really like to get some of your oppinions.

heres the pics of the sword. very nice if i do say so myself. i think i'm in love.

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Here is John Lundemo's artistic rendition of the Sword of Saint Catherine(TM), a.k.a. the sword of Joan of Arc. This is purely John's work: his design, his blade, his execution. It's an amazig portfolio piece.

The blade features an awesome random pattern damascus but it's subtle so that from blade to hilt the sword is perfectly aesthetically balanced and nothing tries too hard to steal attention away from anything else. The pommel is carved out of steel and given a lot of file work to achieve a shape I've not seen on pommels but is beautiful.

Also the grip sports thin leather over cord, with three pairs of dual "bumps" that are excellently executed and probably some of the best I've seen, so I'm going to bug John to factor this level of quality into our future Acanthus projects.

Adrian Ko
sword forum international

Hi John,

I like this one quite a bit. One of the things I love about your work is the "pristine but less than new" look you give it. Everything looks like it has a bit of age to it.

I really like the basic shape on this sword but I would change two things: Slim the scabbard down as it looks a tad thick and overbuilt, and do likewise with the grip. Right now the grip looks a bit thick. If you were to slim it down a bit the waisted appearance of the grip would be accentuated and the sword would have a much more graceful line overall.

These are relatively minor things though. Overall it's quite nice.

Very interesting work on the blade.

I'm going to agree with Patrick on this one - both on the recommendations and the aesthetics.

One more thing - this would be a good piece to play with if you wanted to get more into peening the hilts together. With the well executed filework in the pommel, a little filing on the peened area/rivet block wouldn't be out of place.

I really dig the crosses on the blade. Maybe in a future piece, a shallow engraving rather than etching to give some depth to the decoration?

I agree with the comments on the scabbard and grip thickness, but beautiful work overall. I love the blade and pommel. I assume that the pommel is secured with a pommel nut (that's what it looks like, anyway) rather than peened?

On this one the customer asked for Breakdownable. But the tang is 5/16th thick and so I made 5/16th threads for the pommel nut which is handmade and is inset into pommel about 3/4", and the pommel is keyed onto tang so won't twist. The tang is a fatty. I would have preffered a shorter grip for this size blade. The scabbard looks clunky in the photo but is really quite thin I thought. I had the quillon flaired out more but it took away from the overall look. Thanks for your comments, I totally appreciate them. John

Really I do not have big hands at all, and I found the grip very comfortable. A skinny grip means a skinny tang and a weak woodcore, sometimes you have to think about pleasing every body at once and come up short with the occasuanal skinny grip aesthetics thing. :D

A skinny grip doesn't always mean a skin tang. Perhaps you need to revise your assembly methods?

That's a very attractive sword! John, your detail work, particularly your file work, is a refreshing sight for sure. There aren't a whole lot of people doing anything like that now days. You also seem very quick at your craft. Your product output seems outrageously high for the quality that you're doing. That's the one thing that sticks out about you: just how prolific you are. Again, in an industry with extremely long turnaround times and missed deadlines, this is refreshing.

Regarding the grip size thing being discussed:There are simply too many examples history has left us of swords with appropriately-sized substantial tangs with lean grips to say it's not a valid combination or something that would produce weakened parts. For me, it's not an issue of aesthetic preference, but rather an issue of what looks "right" when compared to the vast amount of antiques out there. That's just been so burned into the brain for many us that it's often difficult to make sure we step out of that criteria and judge these things on their own merits.

I see this as a more contemporary design with some historical influences (alternate history is just as valid as a design concept as any), which means it must be judged by that criteria, and not as a strict historical piece. In that realm, I really like this sword a whole hell of a lot. Again, the strengths of your design are in the details.

Nice work.

John,

If you ever have anything free for a review let me know. I've wanted to see an example of your work for quite some time. As for doing better, well, everything we're discussing is really just a matter of personal taste.

John, I could say "nice piece, ooh, I like it" too (which I generally do, actually) but that's not too constructive, given the discussion already. I can't say anything that hasn't been said already.

What I'll look at instead, is the scabbard - the leatherwork on it, actually. I really like the risers and the raised crosses you put into the piece. It takes a good bit of planning and effort to execute them in such a manner. That gets a definite thumbs-up from me!

For the population in general (fortunately to a lesser extent here), the scabbard is an afterthought, or an ignored-yet-expected accessory. It isn't given the attention or interest it really deserves as a piece of work in itself. Having built a few myself, I know this didn't just appear in a few minutes' time.

John;

Glad you joined the site and are posting getting insight from the perspective of a maker before, after or during the creative and making stages is very interesting for us all, and if we can contribute some ideas or feedback that are helpful I think we would be proud. :D :cool:

I see what they mean about the thickness of the grip at least visually ! But how it feels in the hand if you have large hands would influence what is right for you. ( Although once one gets used to thinner grips the body adapts sometimes and start to prefer them thinner. )

I don't think a thicker grip is a mistake so much as a preference: What looks best doesn't always feel best in hand!

Since you mentioned " skinny tangs " I would like your opinion on this topic I started on tangs a while ago " Behaviour of narrow tangs ". There where some good replies but no industry professionals have given their input yet. Sort of a sideways means of " Bumping the subject back up for discussion ". http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=5255

Basically when is skinny too skinny for a tang and the fact that a lot of skinny tang are historically accurate.
( Oh, best to go back to the tang thread for replies about tangs rather than taking this Topic off topic . :idea: )

I would very much like to see a myArmoury review of this sword.

John Lundemo wrote:

…So, I will take these suggestions to heart and do better next time. You'll see, it will have a skinny scabbard and skinny grip and the construction will be mint, and peened!...

John, I really appreciate your interest in being responsive to our historically-biased group, here. I would like to clarify a couple of comments that I had made, though. I noted that the pommel appeared to be secured by a nut, rather than peened. That was just an observation, not a criticism. Similarly, it was just an observation when I echoed the comments of others and said the grip was “a bit chunky”. Neither of those points would stop me from buying this sword. The issues that would get in the way of an actual purchase are the standard ones of budget and priorities. :(

Also, I was cruising around your website, and was surprised that you have no pictures posted of this beauty. Though, if you did, I suppose they would just be the same photos shown above….