Congrats!!!

Congratulations, guys! Looks like two excelent items have found a good home indeed.

Congratulations Jean and Tim; very nice prizes. :)

Congratulations to the winners ! :)

The prizes have been shipped (:( for me; :) for the winners). Please let us know your thoughts when you get them.

:)

Well all I would like to say is that I am thrilled that Tim and Jean are the winners, I don't know either of you so no agenda there, it is just that I recognise both of you from threads we have all contributed to so we are clearly interested in the same sorts of things (excepting Jean who seems to be interested in everything judging by the number of posts!).

As for being generous - not at all. How could I put a price on the resource that is myArmoury? I have paid back a fraction of the value of what has been given to me by all of you, so frankly I still think I have the bargain end of the deal.

I hope you both like your goodies. Congratulations.

Regards


Tod

M. Eversberg II wrote:

You should do a review; I'd like to see how that one performs. M.

Well, there's already one review of the piece Jean won:

[ Linked Image ]
Tod's Stuff Bone-handled Baselard
A hands-on review by Chad Arnow

I'm sure he'll chime in with his thoughts when he gets it. (Jean always chimes in) :)

Was starting to get a little " ANTSY " since the Tracking wasn't telling me much more than the package had a tracking number and that the package was still not in the system/shipped yet: This was still the results late last night about 2 or 3 days after the shipping was initiated !

Well, now the Tracking is back on TRACK and the info is even on the Canada Post site as having left the U.S.A. , so everything look on schedule as the next tracking info should be when it gets to Canada Customs and is then cleared and handed off back to canada Post for shipping ....... then it has to get from the point of entry to Montreal and then sorted and out for delivery. ;) :D

From previous experience I'm guessing mid to late next week, if really really lucky Monday or more probably Tuesday. ( No emoticon for crossed fingers. :p :lol: ).

Just to calm the nerves of Nathan and Chad I'm posting this about 1 hour after the dagger arrived " safely " and in the same shape it was mailed. ;)

Will get back to this later tonight or tomorrow with a more detailed post about impressions as they come to me do do the dagger justice as this is a short comment.

Very very nice aesthetics and very nice handling and initial impressions confirm all of Chad's review of the piece and it does look and feel more like period work than a modern knife. ( Will see if I have things to say that Chad didn't think of in his very good review i.e. my subjective impressions ).

In short " SEXY " and a joy to hold and to look at. :D :cool:

Thanks to Leo for his great generosity, even if he is too modest to want to make a big deal out of donating, it sure is a really " NICE " big deal for me and I'm sure to the other winner.

So thanks again to Nathan for this very much appreciated addition to my collection. :D

Here are a few comments about the basilard:

Handling is very good but I think there is more " presence " in the blade than what Chad said in his review: True the balance point is very close or almost at the guard but the blade is fairly thick and has a lot of mass for it's size and just enough forward weighting to give a good wrist snap cut. This forward weight also makes transitioning from a hammer grip to an ice pic grip easier with just finger manipulation than a too much in the handle balance.

The blade feels substantial and is heavier bladed than the A & A Aunlaz dagger that I also have.
http://www.arms-n-armor.com/dagg216.html

These two daggers should have similar function and I think the Aunlaz may be a basilard using a different style of guard and " pommel " assembly but in handling both types of guards do a good job of locking in the hand with a very secure grip.

The basilard came fairly sharp but it only took very minor use of a diamond hone and a Spyderco Sharpmaker ( Triangular ceramic sharpeners in a synthetic base set at a good sharpening angle ..... been using these for decades. ).

These was only a very small secondary bevel as received and the very light sharpening hasn't changed this i.e. I did a good job of sharpening without adding to the secondary bevels and only " refined " and already sharp blade to scary sharp from paper cutting sharp. ( Good steel and heat treat ).

With knives I prefer a sharper edge than with a sword.

The handle is a joy to " HANDLE " and I can see why this style was a popular design. Love the detail work on the tang.

As seen in Chad's review the tang is a reverse tapering tang that gets thicker near the " pommel " end and this probably bring the balance back a bit. ( Back in a good way. ;) :D ).

Most modern " tactical/custom " knives do the opposite in that a tapered tang becomes thinner near the back of the knives: The fact that the basilard does the opposite doesn't mean that either is inherently better but it is something I haven't seen before and I am curious about the design decision or the original basilards on which this may be based. ( Always interesting to learn new things .... ;) ).

Although not a huge knife it feels substantial and railroad engineered strong which is something I really like. :D :cool:

Oh, if you go back and read Chad's review and look closely at the pic of the chape you may notice some very nice detailing I hadn't noticed when I first read the review and that Chad didn't mention: This is a very nice but subtle detail feature that one can easily miss and is very attractive.

Oh, did I say that I really like this dagger :?: Well, I guess I did quite a few times already but it deserves being repeated a few times ..... Thanks again to Leo and to Nathan for the knife and to Chad for having the pain of having to send it off and NOT being able to play with it anymore. :lol: