Today's update:

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Newly Featured On-line Gallery
Bill Grandy's Collection

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Museum Replicas Sword of St. Michael
A hands-on review by Bill Grandy

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Wallpaper: MRL Sword of St. Michael
Created by Nathan Robinson


As always, you can see our Complete History of Updates listed right from our home page.

As always, I enjoyed the updates. I'm especially glad for the review of the sword of St. Michael. I've been wondering for a while now how MRL's newer falchions compared with the old. I was waiting to see what somebody else though about this sword. And perhaps sometime soon someone will purchase or handle MRL's new archer's falchion so they can share their thoughts on it. I agree with Bill Grandy in that I can't see evidence in the painting to show the sword as being double edged. I wonder if Windlass got their information from some other source? In all I enjoyed the review and I certainly enjoyed perusing Mr. Grandy's fine collection.

I enjoyed looking at Bill"s collection a LOT and reading all the mini reviews: As usual the photography was great and seeing complex guards from many different angles is very informative as the usual side shot shown in most books leave one wondering about the flow and subtleties of shapes in a 3D way.

The MRL Falchion review is also useful if one is tempted to buy this one: At the price, it seems a decent buy, if one knows in advance that reworking the grip might be needed if one puts it to use cutting or solo training at speed.

The Patrick Thaden Sallet is interesting to me as a design a bit different than most in that it is deeper than usual, at least the ones I've seen in pictures: The visor seem to protect the face almost completely and a bevor would seem less essential for good protection than sallets visors that stop at the bottom of nose or upper lip level.

Am I the only one who thinks that when wearing a sallet that leaves the lower face uncovered, one perceives the unprotected naked lower half of the face as more vulnerable than when wearing a totally open face helm. :confused: :?:

Here is my theory why this is: With an open face one is completely aware of the fact and one depends mostly on moving out of the way of a blow or stopping it with a shield or sword parry. With protection going only halfway down the face the lower face become THE target and the eye protection of the visor fools the brain into not reacting by reflex as automatically when there is no protection at all to the face. The flip side of this is that the fear of not reacting fast enough make the lower face feel even more vulnerable. Funny though that with a Norman helm with a nasal I don't get this effect.

Obviously, adding a bevor does not just have the psychological effect of making you feel better protected it actually does protect better. :lol:

From period art I get the impression that a sallet would be worn without a bevor a good deal of the time, at least by archers or less than fully armoured men. With full armour coverage not using the bevor is just like saying AIM for my chin. :eek:

It is outstanding! Great collection Bill!

Bill, that is a very impressive collection.

Thanks guys. It's funny, because I didn't fully appreciate how big my collection was until we consolidated it into web format for the gallery, and I thought, "Wow. That's a lot of swords." :eek: :D

The ironic thing to me is that years ago I remember seeing Nathan's collection online, I think some five or six years ago, and thought, "Man. I can only hope my collection one day gets to be anything even close to that." This was before myArmoury, and before I'd ever even had any contact with Nathan. Funny how this stuff works out. :)

Wow Bill, great stuff. :D I absolutely covet your Phoenix Metal Creations Bastard Sword. What a beauty. :eek:

Note to self: Thou shalt not covet thy instructor's collection. :lol:

Very cool, Bill! :cool:

Another great review Bill. If I might suggest an edit in the scabbard paragraph to remove one of the sentences on the color difference.

Quote:

The chapes are made of a different steel than the guard of the sword, though, as they are "whiter" in color than the sword's fittings, which looks odd when examined closely, though this is a minor issue.The edges of the scabbard are accented with tooled lines that bring out the form nicely. The scabbard has steel fittings that are decorated with simple but attractive piercing, which really sets the scabbard out from earlier forms by MRL. The scabbard fittings are made of a different steel than the guard of the sword, though, as they are "whiter" in color than the sword's fittings. This looks odd when examined closely, though this is a minor issue.

Maybe chape and locket in the first, lose the last two sentences.
or lose the first statement of such and keep the closing.

Now I have to go back and look at the collection.

Cheers

GC

Thanks, Glen. I made edits to that section.

Always dig the collections! Great job Bill!

Awesome collection Bill! I recognized a few of those pieces. :cool:

Great collection, Bill! I clearly only saw the "tip of the iceberg" in December. The only thing missing is a nice basket hilt! :lol: