Arms & Armor has been around forwever and they certainly have great looking stuff. My question is how well does their stuff hold up under use? I'm looking at a spear and javilen and wonder are these more for show/stage use only? Thanks!

Although I don't own the spear or javelin, I do own four swords from A&A which are used to practice Bolognese Swordsmanship. This type of use is fairly rigorous and places a lot of demands on the weapons, and they've held up fine. Additionally, I know of several other people who own A&A weapons who have not had any problems.

Note that if your use of a spear or javelin involves throwing it at a tree (I'm not saying that it will, just covering bases), the tip will almost certainly break sooner or later (because the pruning bill and machete are good for attacking foliage, but purpose-built weapons are not). However, I am confident that their spear and javelin would hold up to reasonable wear and tear.

Steve

I have one of their javelins and I throw it almost every day, against trees, stumps, plywood, metal sheet....etc. after a while you will need to sharpen it with a file but thats super easy, I'm really bad at that kind of thing and I can sharpen it. Once I even completely smashed the tip when I missed and hit concrete but even that was an easy fix. The head has gotten a little loose over time but has yet to actually come off, I think I've had it for like 2-3 years too.
Z

Hi Ken,

I've broken one of A&A's Javelins throwing it into a hay bail target. And I know other individuals who have broken them on soft targets too. There was and is no problem with the head of the javelin, however the shaft was basically a dowel rod. In fact I believe the owner of the javelin that I broke replaced the shaft with a dowel rod from Lowes and continues to use the javelin today. However they are great fun to use and I would still recommend them at their $50 price tag. The metal head will last forever and it is relatively easy to replace the shaft should you break it.

As far as the spear is concerned. I know of one Western Martial Arts instructor that is using one of their spears, though I don't remember which one, for instruction but I have never handled one personally.

I have cut with many of their swords. Smashed various items with their warhammer and spiked mace. And own a Fechterspiel for training purposes. I know a couple people who own custom A&A items and use them daily for training without any problems what so ever.

Oh by the way PM sent.