Not that long ago Mark asked me if I though a quote he give for a sword was too high, my response was that it was probably too cheap. I also told him that at those prices that I was tempted to just have him make me a sword with the intention of selling it to help show off his own work. So after a couple days of discussion about what type of sword would be good, we decided on the Xa 1 from Records of the Medieval Sword. Within a day or so of picking a sword he was already sending me pictures from where he had immersed himself into the project.

I have had the sword for a few days now and have to say that he did a really good job on it. Have not done any cutting with it though since I did commission it to sell. For a couple years now I have been saying Mark is one of the best hollow grinders out there and it shows with this piece. The fit and finish are top notch as well. I'm going to hate seeing this one go, if it had been more in one of my time periods you wouldn't be able to pry it out of my hands.

Pictures and more information can be found at my website
http://www.ironagearmoury.com/specials.htm
and Mark's
http://www.ollinsworddesign.com/osd-custom-xa1.html.



Shane Allee

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.............................................

That is really nice work. I love the pommel, that's a design you don't see too many modern makers attempting.

Holy smoke!!! That is pretty!

That looks great, Mark!

Shane,

Thanks for the complements! It was a great project for OlliN and I know what Mark really enjoyed working on it.

Best!

Matt

Beautiful work.

One question though: does Xa.1 have a hollow ground blade? I thought that type X/Xa swords were lenticular in cross-section.

Shane,

How acute is the hollowgrinding on the blade? You really don't get a sense of it from the photos.

Hey Patrick,

He ground it with an 8" contact wheel, so it is there and noticeable in person. It isn't a real deep hollow, I would guess the original would probably be closer to something like a 6" wheel. I would imagine that 8" wheel are pretty commonly use for many of the shallower hollows and probably 4" used on some of the deep hollows we see out there today. I can try to get a better picture, maybe like the front face of the guard, that will show the degree of hollow better.

Shane

Ok, I added another picture to the site that should help a bit.
[ Linked Image ]

So Patrick, would it be a bad thing to tell you that this sword will be making its way down to mid-Missouri here in just a few days?

Shane

So I assume that means it's still available? You need to check your email Shane... :)

Not been sold yet, it is going home with me for christmas to see the family back in Missouri. Well, unless Russ wants it....I still haven't got his email yet. Figured rather than it sitting around, I could still ship it off if someone does buy it while I am out of town.

Shane

Tried it again via p.m. :)

Ok, looks like Russ is buying it.

Shane