Usually in this forum there is plenty of comments and news on American high quality sword manufacturers, like Albion or A&A. This makes sense given the fact that most members are American. I have always thought, however, that myArmoury lacks information on Europeans bladesmiths, with some exceptions, like Chad Arnow's views on Arma Bohemia, and the reviews on some of their works.

It would be nice to have some input on their quality, customer service, ... I will tell you now what little I know about a few of them. If anybody has had any experience with any of these, or another one that it is not on this list, share it, please.


Paul Binns' could be regarded as my re-enactor group's "official swords". They are tough as nails, and nobody that I have spoken to has ever had any problem with Paul. Recently there was a thread about his work, which showed some disagreement.

http://www.paul-binns-swords.co.uk/

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...mp;start=0

Pavel Moc. I have heard conflicting reports on his swords, both happy (the majority) and regretful owners. I have handled a Forrer, which did not impressed me too much, and fought with an Embleton, which is nice, but maybe a bit light (it reminded me of the awful Hanwei Practical One-and-a-half).

http://www.swords.cz/enindex.html

Del Tin. I have only held his Lombard Sword. Very pretty (I am partial to ring-hilt swords), but a bit overweight. I think in this case it could be forgiven, as Migration Era swords are supposed to be somewhat unbalanced.

http://www.deltin.net/elenco1.htm

Comparing them in quality terms with NG Albions, they all three lose in my opinion. Though it should be taken into consideration that they are cheaper products.

Other bladesmiths:

http://www.castlekeep.co.uk/products.php
http://www.templ.net/english/
http://www.kp-art.fi/jt/index_eng.html
http://www.armart.antiquanova.com/
http://www.stgeorgearmoury.co.uk/index.html
http://www.swordcutler.com/index_en.php
http://www.sword.cz/swords.htm
http://www.sword-gur.com/
http://www.miecze.pl/index.php5?page=AboutProducts&lang=en

There is a thread going on now about Viktor Berbekucz.
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=14656

Don´t forget the German smiths. Two come to mind:
Stefan Roth at http://www.seelenschmiede.de/
and Arno Eckhardt at http://www.dietraumschmiede.de/
Both of them have an excellent reputation, and I think they are on the same level as John Lundemo or Michael Tinker Pearce.
There are others, one just has to look.

Cheers, Peter

www.kovex-ars.cz

Not the highest quality swors but they sell nice starter swords for a very nice price :)

Del Tin swords used to be pretty commonly encountered here in the US, due to their being imported (at the time) by Museum Replicas Limited. Even so, there are still a few DT importers (Albion imported them for a while; Art Elwell still does). As noted, DT swords do tend to be heftier than they should be, but most models are not "grossly obese" or too far out of line for the upper end of historical weights. I have that "Lombard" sword, I don't feel it is overly heavy, rather the blade forward balance does tend to make it feel heavier than it is (IIRC, it's about 2.75 lbs).

Another European maker not mentioned yet is Lutel ( http://www.lutel.cz/ ). I've only handled a few pieces by Lutel. One, a Katzbalger, was, like the Del Tin swords, a bit heavier than it should have been, but it still handled fairly well. Lutel also makes some very nice scabbard and belt arrangements.

And yet another maker is Arm Art ( http://www.armart.antiquanova.com/ ). They do make a nice sword -- however, they have a notoriously slow turnaround time on orders (usually going long beyond the initially projected time of completion), and communications is not their strong suite.

Armour Class ( http://www.armourclass.co.uk/ ) is based in Glasgow, Scotland. They are well-known for their Scottish-style swords such as basket-hilt and two-hand claymores (naturally), but also produce lines of Viking-era, medieval, and later swords, and they do custom orders as well. I have a couple AC basket-hilts and IMHO they are the best "semi-production" basket-hilted swords on the market. I have not handled their other styles, but they look nice in the pictures....

My goodness, I forgot to mention one of the very best, Peter Johnsson! Shame on me!

Not his page, but some of his creations are shown.

http://bjorn.foxtail.nu/hand_eng.htm

Pity; it'd be really nice to have someplace to go to drool over his work in one place. :lol:

I completely forgot to post Pavel Marek here, from the Czech Republik. Good price for the quallity he delivers. Some would say that his swords are a bit heavy. He also does custom work.

http://www.armorymarek.com/

Also from Czech Republic are Kasto

http://www.kasto.org

There swords seem to be quite nicely balanced when I tried a few swings at the recent Warwick market, cant vouch for the quality but they are good looking & fairly priced.

Hi Folks !

The german smiths are hard to get a hold of. I have wirrten emails to both and never even got a reply.
Even though the quality of their products is reportedly quite good , but only what i heared and red.

For German smith there is still :
http://www.axonderschmied.de/cms/

I have found communications with lutel to be difficult.From what i have heared and read their blunts are very solid and lot of "ompf" for the money. While their sharps are a bit too beefy and heavy. Prices do seem very fair.

Kovex Ars i have heared and seen both extrems. Very good and very bad. I would strictly vote against buying online, as - at least in the past- they have had huge variations on length and wieght. Might be ironed out with their new site and resetup. But if you have the option i suggest to buy only live from them.

Castle Keep is on my to get list if i ever save up enough money. Rob Miller does awesome work and from what i have read and heared his communication and customer service are excellent.

The StGorgeArmoury i never got an email reply. Not sure whats wrong.

Armourclass. Well, i have heared a lot of good things but, i would suggest to try to handle a few pieces first. I own their claymore and i am not all too happy with it. My very personal opinion only of course.

I think its great to see a collection of the euopean companies. 350 USD shipping from the US is quite a turn off :/

Best regards

Klaus

Three more:

http://www.schmiede-balbach.de/

http://www.hephestus.net/spade%20e%20pugnali.htm

http://www.bronze-age-craft.com/