I wanted to share some pics of a piece Rick Barrett recently finished for me, which I picked up at the Bladesmithing Seminar. I have virtually no photography skills, so as the saying goes these pictures do the real thing no justice. It's truly, truly a beautiful sword.

I haven't taken any measurement stats for her yet. This may sound corny, but I don't see the point. Everything about this blade is me -- the size and shaping of the handle was made to be best to my hands. The excellently balanced blade is given the perfect amount of heft for my arms. In every aspect of this blade, Rick did an awesome job of customizing this blade to be as best a fit to me as possible. So what is in stats to anyone else? ;-)

I am insanely happy with this piece. I wish I had shared it earlier, as I was looking forward to Don's impressions, so I'll just have to wait until later to hear those. ;) I don't really know what to say, though -- I've had this piece in my posession for nearly three weeks now, and I'm still speechless and in love.

Some basic info: monosteel blade, the handle is African Wenge with silver twist and both ends, the guard and pommel were given an "aged" look, which came out VERY nice and subtle. You can see this best in the guard closeups.

To see some pics, head to http://home.insightbb.com/~j.steimel/pics/pics.html and scroll down (just threw up this page to post some pictures where my parents could get to them easy. Don't mind the other stuff, but feel free to look through if you'd like ;-) ). Sorry for the vague info, but I'm just on a lunch break. More later, perhaps.

Take care all,
-JS