I have a seax for sale that was custom hilted and refinished by Scott Byler. It is an incredibly nice blade that is very well constructed and has only been used to cut a few times. It is in very good condition.
I will offer this seax for $150.00 which includes shipping and insurance in the CONUS. I will take bank checks or postal money orders for payment.
Please see the review below for more information:
This is a review of a seax that was customized and re-hilted by Scott Byler. The blade was the old MRL Runic Sax offered around nine or ten years ago. The seax blade itself is loosely based on a late ninth century Anglo-Saxon archaeological find. It was made from mill saw stock and assembled in MRL’s shop (as I remember). It was quite blunt and lacked an effective edge or point. The original MRL hilt had a short cross and three lobed pommel that threaded onto the end of the tang. The grip was soft wood covered with black leather. I bought one, played with it and then it was forgotten in a basement for a number of years.
I found it again last year and wanted someone to clean, polish and re-hilt it with something a bit different. I noticed Scott Byler’s work offered on Viking-Shield and I liked the look of his seax design. I had been in contact with Scott for a while here at SFI and we soon arranged payment for the work. I wanted a smooth, wood grip and cast bronze fittings for the seax. The blade also needed drastic cleaning, polishing and a decent edge. Scott and I talked about various wood finishes, hilt shapes and attachment methods. I decided on curly maple for the grip and very plain oval shaped fittings for the hilt. The tang is both peened and blind pinned in place. I know this hilt arrangement is not exactly historically accurate but I wanted it this way for reasons of safety and also aesthetics.
Mr. Byler did an incredible job with cleaning, grinding and polishing the blade! It had almost no distal taper when new but I didn’t want to have it ground down too much for fear of losing the etched runes and designs. The amount of handwork he put into the blade was phenomenal. He literally spent hours and hours polishing the blade to a fine satin finish. He put a very functional edge and a wicked point on the blade, too. He used a dark stain and many coats of linseed oil to darken and seal the wood of the grip (he also selected a beautiful piece of wood with a terrific grain pattern). The cast bronze fittings were very well made and lock my hand into place perfectly when the seax is gripped.
It was not designed to be a performance blade (for pop bottles, pool noodles and the like) but one that will chop and thrust with some authority.
I would highly recommend Mr. Byler to anyone who might be interested in a custom or semi-custom project. He is a very talented artist and craftsman. It was a real pleasure working with him on this project.
The following is a short list of blade stats:
Overall Length: 26”
Blade Length: 21.5”
Blade Width (at widest point): 1.75”
Hilt Length: 4.5”
Weight: 1 lb. 3 oz.
POB: 6.75”
Please PM me with questions or offers.
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