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Shamsi Modarai
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 Posted: Sat 16 Jun, 2007 8:43 pm Post subject: Swooning for a seax..... |
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Greetings,
While I am not currently able to afford any custom work (or any work at all for that matter  ), I have always wanted a seax. I love swords and I have many swords and various and sundry other weapons on my must-own-before-I-die list, but for some reason I have decided that a seax must be my next purchase. A langseax to be precise. There is just something so....so...sexy about them. I certainly love those Saxons, so I suppose it all fits. Just looking at one makes me want to stand in a shield-wall, slice and/or stab something, and then lick the blade. Mmm. 
Someday (aka when I am no longer in graduate school) I will get around to finding/purchasing one, and when I do I have very specific ideas about what I want it to look like. I have always been very taken with this style, runes and all:
http://www.myArmoury.com/view.html?features/pic_seax02.jpg
http://1500bc.com/british_museum/07170089.jpg
As for the hilt, I have some ideas, but nothing really specific yet.....like I said, I'm not going to be able to afford anything for a long while yet....
Nevertheless, being the type who likes to plan things waaay in advance (and in order to start saving up), I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of some sources for seaxes (vendors, custom, whatever) that they would like to throw into the mix......just to get me drooling even more over what I can't have yet. I don't really have a price range in mind, I'm just looking for quality......and se(a)xy-ness.
I humbly ask all of you sagely warriors because I haven't been able to find too much on my lonesome yet.
Thanks in advance!
~ Shamsi
P.S. I really hope I put this in the correct forum.....
P.P.S. I also hope I haven't already posted something similar to this before.....I have a terrible memory sometimes. 
Wa biš žam že sceal of langože leofes abidan.
~ The Wife's Lament
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Sam Barris
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| Posted: Sat 16 Jun, 2007 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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Mmm. That one has always been one of my very favorite seaxes. You might also like the looks of this similar one by Jake Powning.
http://www.powning.com/jake/commish/swords10.shtml
Strangely, for being such an extremely cool design, nobody seems very interested in making one except the occasional custom smith.
Pax,
Sam Barris
"Any nation that draws too great a distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools." Thucydides
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John Cooksey
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| Posted: Sat 16 Jun, 2007 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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Mr. Powning's work is amazing.
I especially like his execution of "Grettir's Seax". Sublime. . . . . . .
I didn't surrender, but they took my horse and made him surrender.
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Jeroen Zuiderwijk
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sun 17 Jun, 2007 12:04 am Post subject: |
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Good reproduction langsaxes don't exist yet. Part of the reason for that is that information about them is hard to find, so people tend to copy eachother's wrong reconstructions over and over again. If you really want a good reproduction, then you'll have to do a bit of research. As I'm a big fan of saxes and langsaxes, and want to see more proper reproductions, feel free to contact me and I'll email some information I have.
And as for where to have it made, you could comission one from Patrick Barta (http://www.templ.net/english/news.php). I hear he's got a 3 year waiting list now, so it will give you plenty of time to collect money  But there isn't any place where you could get a more accurate reproduction (if you can provide enough detailed information), and for a better price/quality ratio.
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Tim Lison
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| Posted: Sun 17 Jun, 2007 12:05 am Post subject: |
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Seaxes are very cool! I'm posting a great example of one done by Eric McHugh of Albion. It doesn't have any runic inlay, but it sure is nice! Another smith to keep in mind is Rob Miller of Castle Keep. He has done some great viking swords lately with really nicely done wood and bone grips. I think that style of grip would translate nicely to a seax.
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Andy Bain
Location: Surrey, BC, Canada Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 119
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| Posted: Sun 17 Jun, 2007 12:36 am Post subject: |
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Tim beat me to the punch. Eric is going to be makig me a seax sometime over the next few months. It might even get reviewed by one of the myArmoury team.
Take a look at his page over on Albions website. He's made a number of seaxes over the last couple of years,
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Jean Thibodeau
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Shamsi Modarai
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| Posted: Sun 17 Jun, 2007 4:19 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the recommendations, everyone...keep them coming.
Yesterday I was at the annual Viking Festival here in (Hafnafjoršur) Iceland, and in looking at the vendors, I was reminded of how difficult it is to find good reproduction seaxes (aka something pre-made). I“m glad that there are at least some qualitiy custom smiths out there who can make what I“m looking for (or at least very close to it!).
Patrick Barta does do amazing work, doesn“t he? But all the other people listed seem great as well. I love all the examples that have been posted so far, and Eric and Jake's are especially attractive. I suppose the good thing about being poor* is that I still have a lot of time to work this one out!
* and I am pretty much broke right now. To make matters worse, my wallet with my credit cards was stolen a few days ago when I was up in the north of the country visiting a friend, leaving me here in a foreign country with absolutely NO money whatsoever. Luckily, after six months I have made some very nice friends here, or I'd be screwed right now! 
Wa biš žam že sceal of langože leofes abidan.
~ The Wife's Lament
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David Wilson
Location: In a van down by the river Joined: 23 Aug 2003
Posts: 803
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| Posted: Sun 17 Jun, 2007 9:18 am Post subject: |
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Paul Binns is pretty well-known for his reproduction saexes/scramasaxes. He makes them in various lengths, with various hilt materials, and can do either blunts (for reenactment) or sharps. I picked up a PB scram on eBay a while back, it's nice looking and would make a decent camp knife.
Lutel makes some nice saexes, a couple longer-bladed ones and a couple 8-9 inchers. Lutels are usually shipped blunt (again, for reenactors) but can be sharpened.
Personally, I really like this pattern-welded langsax by Vince Evans (sadly, it is sold):
David K. Wilson, Jr.
Laird of Glencoe
Now available on Amazon: Franklin Posner's "Suburban Vampire: A Tale of the Human Condition -- With Vampires" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N7Y591
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Jean Le-Palud
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| Posted: Sun 17 Jun, 2007 10:40 pm Post subject: |
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Another one by Vince Evans.
Photos by Blade Gallery
And you can also have a sight to J. Loose's site: http://www.jloose.com/
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Ville Vinje
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| Posted: Mon 18 Jun, 2007 8:01 am Post subject: |
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My friend has a blunted Paul Binns replica of the battersea seax (the one in your pictures) with engraved runes with inlays of copper and silver. Binns made the seax with a handle of elk horn.
It's marvelous.
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Jeremy V. Krause
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| Posted: Mon 18 Jun, 2007 8:11 am Post subject: |
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A seax by Patrick Barta would be great to see! He could certainly execute any type of decoration you are interested in. Some of the seaxes shown in thes thread, though beautiful, are not quite historical it should be noted.
Jeremy
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Robin Smith
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| Posted: Mon 18 Jun, 2007 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Jeremy V. Krause wrote: | A seax by Patrick Barta would be great to see! He could certainly execute any type of decoration you are interested in. Some of the seaxes shown in thes thread, though beautiful, are not quite historical it should be noted.
Jeremy |
That does bring up a question of mine. Is there any evidence for horn handled seaxes, or is it purely a reenactorism? I was under the impression that bone handles, although very cool, were ahistorical.
Also I was wondering if anyone out there was making a frankish seax? You know, with the curved back and blade, not the angular broken back or scandinavian style. I know I've seen pictures of them, but never a reproduction.
A furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine
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Antoine M.
Industry Professional
Location: Trois-Rivičres, Québec Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 34
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| Posted: Mon 18 Jun, 2007 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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Hi ,
While we are on the subject of historical seax, does anyone has information on the blade construction?
Damascus patterns? I've seen the "typical" composite twists patters, is there any others? sandwich constructions, straight damascus ect?
i'm curious about the handle materials question that Robin asked too...I might have a good and steady supply of sheep horn so...
Antoine M.
my web site;
http://antoinemarcal.wordpress.com/
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Jeff Pringle
Industry Professional
Location: Oakland, CA Joined: 19 Nov 2005
Posts: 145
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| Posted: Mon 18 Jun, 2007 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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Frankish seax generally looked like this (8th C. Netherlands, conservation report by Ypey), sometimes with a more spear point blade, usually with longer tang:
When new, they may have looked like this:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~jlp3/images/3seax1s.jpg
or this:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~jlp3/images/4seax1s.jpg
Usually in straight layered metal, but sometimes with decorative damascus along the back.
The second blade is a better copy of the artifact, note the upswept joint at the front of the damascus, common in artifacts (but not ubiquitous, of course). Many had two side-by-side bars of twist damascus at the back, so the pattern would slant in the same direction on both sides of the blade.
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Kirk Lee Spencer
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| Posted: Mon 18 Jun, 2007 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Antoine M. wrote: | Hi ,
While we are on the subject of historical seax, does anyone has information on the blade construction?
Damascus patterns? I've seen the "typical" composite twists patters, is there any others? sandwich constructions, straight damascus ect?
i'm curious about the handle materials question that Robin asked too...I might have a good and steady supply of sheep horn so...
Antoine M. |
These are some images I compiled from figures published in "The Metallography of Early Ferrous Edge Tools & Edged Weapons" by R.F. Tylecote & B.J.J.Gilmour
They show how complex Seax blade construction can be.
ks
Attachment: 99.35 KB
from "The Metallography of Early Ferrous Edge Tools & Edged Weapons" by R.F. Tylecote & B.J.J.Gilmour
Attachment: 99.61 KB
from "The Metallography of Early Ferrous Edge Tools & Edged Weapons" by R.F. Tylecote & B.J.J.Gilmour
Attachment: 97.91 KB
from "The Metallography of Early Ferrous Edge Tools & Edged Weapons" by R.F. Tylecote & B.J.J.Gilmour
Attachment: 99.64 KB
from "The Metallography of Early Ferrous Edge Tools & Edged Weapons" by R.F. Tylecote & B.J.J.Gilmour
Two swords
Lit in Edens flame
One of iron and one of ink
To place within a bloody hand
One of God or one of man
Our souls to one of
Two eternities
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Robin Smith
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| Posted: Mon 18 Jun, 2007 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Jeff Pringle wrote: | Frankish seax generally looked like this (8th C. Netherlands, conservation report by Ypey), sometimes with a more spear point blade, usually with longer tang:
*snip*
Usually in straight layered metal, but sometimes with decorative damascus along the back.
The second blade is a better copy of the artifact, note the upswept joint at the front of the damascus, common in artifacts (but not ubiquitous, of course). Many had two side-by-side bars of twist damascus at the back, so the pattern would slant in the same direction on both sides of the blade. |
Yup, now thats what I'm talkin about! Anyone know what the handle decoration would have looked like? Also how late can we document Frankish Seaxes?
I guess no one does a repro of these, so I'd need to get it custom made huh? Why is there so many other seax repros, but no frankish ones???
A furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine
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Jeroen Zuiderwijk
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Mon 18 Jun, 2007 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Robin Smith wrote: | | That does bring up a question of mine. Is there any evidence for horn handled seaxes, or is it purely a reenactorism? I was under the impression that bone handles, although very cool, were ahistorical. |
Ahistorical. Quite a few saxes have been found with wooden hilt remains still attached. The majority seem to have had simple shaped all wooden hilts, with the tang glued in. There are some saxes with metal bolsters and pommels, or sometimes metal rings or tubes surrounding te wood. But these are less common, and depend highly on the type of sax. On langsaxes, except the nordic type (with a straight back), nearly all had only wooden hilts without metal components.
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Jeroen Zuiderwijk
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Tue 19 Jun, 2007 12:26 am Post subject: |
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| Robin Smith wrote: | | Yup, now thats what I'm talkin about! Anyone know what the handle decoration would have looked like? |
From what I can see so far, probably straight long undecorated hilts. But I can't be entirely sure until I can study them up close, and check for remaining outer surface of the hilts. Unfortunately though, I can't see the langsaxes that have hilt remains in real life. Eventhough I'm in the same country they are found, almost none are on display. I tried to get access from the ROB who has the most important ones in their depot, but they refused any access, unless I was a professional archeologist and had a good enough reason to research them. So unfortunately all I have to go on is some black and white photos.
| Quote: | | Also how late can we document Frankish Seaxes? |
I'll have to check my documents, but AFAIK up to the end of the 8th century.
| Quote: | | I guess no one does a repro of these, so I'd need to get it custom made huh? Why is there so many other seax repros, but no frankish ones??? |
There's hardly any other seax repros either. They're generally calling them seaxes, but they're as close to these Frankish seaxes as any other type of seaxes.
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Jeff Pringle
Industry Professional
Location: Oakland, CA Joined: 19 Nov 2005
Posts: 145
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There are no Frankish repros because there are no Frankish reenactors, perhaps the Vikings kidnapped them all...