[Bo Engle]

I'm interested in buying a Falcata sword thats battle ready, and i'm not sure where to find one. I'd love to see a destruction test video of the sword on 55 gallon drums or splitting logs. If someone could send me a link i'd appreciate it very much.
Thanks

[Gabriel Lebec]

Welcome to myArmoury!

How about the Del Tin 202A? Del Tin page and for sale. I also found a cheap Windlass example here. Neither is exactly perfect (the Del Tin looks better btw), but they're likely better than any wallhanger you might find from a google search.

Of course there's always custom work if you want something really nice, like this and this by JT Pälikkö.

I would also go ahead and search the forum for falcata or kopis; you will find a lot more information, like this great thread on the historical weapon.

A word of advice, ditch the marketing term "battle ready." It doesn't really mean anything in a useful sense and is more likely to lead you to the lowest quality production items than anything accurate or well-made. I'd suggest reading our article on Evaluation of the Modern Replica for starters. And re: destruction tests, some smiths or companies may use such tests in R&D, but few ever post videos of them. Often such displays are used inappropriately anyway, as they do not favor correctly or historically made swords as much as overbuilt sword-like-objects. There are better ways of determining true quality – not that destruction tests are not fun to watch.

Cheers,
-GLL

[Roger Hooper]

You will find some falcata's here at a good price - http://kultofathena.com/s_results.asp?search=...mit=Search

The Del Tin is the best of them. It does come unsharpened.

[Bo Engle]

Thanks for the help, and the information.

[David Wilson]

I concur, the Del Tin Falcata is the best. It's a nice sword, although not quite historically accurate.

However, there are some other options....

The first is the Valiant Co. Kopis:
http://www.valiantco.com/
Valiantco is an Australian company that imports/exports SW Pacific island cultural edged weapons, and interestingly among them is a short forward-curved sword they call a "Greek Kopis" (the kopis being the Greek forerunner of the Iberian Falcata). These swords are supposedly of very good quality and make great choppers, although they are also not really historically accurate either.

And... then I saw this website, right here in the USA:
http://traditionalarcherybows.com./
A Bowyer making swords? Well, sort of. They make two interesting short swords, the first of which they call a "Falcata Sword of Apollo". Although a little on the short side (as is the Valiant Kopis), it looks pretty darn mean as is. Historical accuracy? Not so much, although the hilt assembly is closer to historical than you'd think (the "full tang" feature, which none of the "more accurate looking" falcatas feature, is how falcata hilts were done -- although the one here is highly simplfied). It lacks the grace and the nuances of an original Iberian falcata, but all inexpensive reproductions fall short in that regard.

Even more interesting is a sword they call the "Falcon Alexander". This is a Kopis if I've ever seen one. It looks more graceful than Scorpion's "falcata". More accurate? Well, in hilt assembly and in basic shape, I'd say it's getting closer to right than just about anything I've seen on the production market. I'd say it's close to spot on (historically), but I'd lke someone with more experience and knowledge to spot-check me here.

(And, BTW, Scorpion has these little videos showing these swords in action. Not bad! But be wary of their little history lessons, they're a bit off).

I have no experience with the Scorpion swords -- but I might have to change that. The "Falcon" is awfully tempting....

Another option, and a real darkhorse candidate here, is this Italian company: http://www.hephestus.net/index.htm
Click on either "novita" or "riproduzioni". They make a couple nice-looking falcatas, one of which looks like the Del Tin (but has the more historically correct hilt assembly), and another one, slightly different, which comes with a composite hilt. I know nothing about quality, but they sure look good! Do you speak Italian? I don't.

Beyond these, you'll have to go custom. JT Palikko has been mentioned, and his falcatas look amazing. Vince Evans has also made some awe-inspiring falcatas (sadly he doesn't take custom orders these days -- but keep checking his Picturetrail site for the "availables" section):
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/listing/user/vevans