[Dustin R. Reagan]

This is my first sword-length blade. Made as a "get well" present for my friend, colleague & WMA training partner, and all around badass, Carlo Arellano. It's been sitting around in a mostly finished state for awhile. I don't fully like how the handle came out, so i've been dragging my feet about finishing it. If/when I do another of these, I won't do the offset tang thing again.

Hand forged 1084 (Aldo's) steel, with incised narrow fuller.
Forge welded & patinated wrought iron bolster (had to forge weld two slabs of wrought together to get a thick enough piece).
Maple handle, with copper inlay.

Blade length: 24 1/4"
OAL: 31 3/4"







Inspiration:




Thanks for looking,
Dustin

Edit: I'd like to reiterate that i'm just a hobbyist maker, this piece isn't for sale.

[Neil Gagel]

That's pretty stinkin' awesome work. I've checked out the Maciejowski choppers made by Del Tin before and always found them fascinating, but this looks to be a step above that. Good job!

[Tristán Zukowski]

Nice work!

[Thomas R.]

Hi Dustin,

another great work of you. These falchions are really, really bad-ass weapons. I find, that one cannot figure it's real might just from looking at the mac pictures. Some people even say, they are made up weapons, or mistaken sarazean-sabers... But if you for only once handle one of them yourself, you'll get the idea, what they were meant to do.

I own one of these with an umbrella shaped handle, made by Jiri Krondak (fabri-armori). They are two handed weapons, as you need two hands to fully use them at your advantage. First you hack at the maille with the spikes to crush the riveting, then you turn the blade and slash. Well, at least, that's my guess at using them. Those with the umbrella handle allow for a very quick turn of the blade in your hand, if you pull the handles end, with your left hand. Too bad, they are much too dangerous to use them in shows or free sparring.

Regards,
Thomas

[T. Cronch]

[Thomas R.]

Hi T. Cronch,

thanks for your expertise, but nevertheless I am sure, you can use it the way I described. And in my opinion these weapons are too dangerous for safe show-combat as most fighters are not familiar with them. If you see yourself fit to do so, well, do so and have fun.

Best regards,
Thomas

[Adam Smith]

Very nice work, can I ask what quenching medium you use for 1085. I especially like the incision, not neccesary but adds a great touch and is very straight The choppers in the mac bible have similar fullers, I would disregard one of the earlier posts about inaccuracy.

[Dustin R. Reagan]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Ron Reimer]

Hi a former member of the group I'm in made a copy of the godenak that was combat safe and we found it to be very effective in dealing with polearms.The tines let you "grip" the shaft and drive it down or sideways and close in to chop.

[Thomas R.]

[Dustin R. Reagan]

Hmm, a lot of conjecture about the purpose of these "scallops"...

After making one of these, i feel that the primary purpose of these scallops is simply to adjust the dynamics of the weapon itself. That is, it is a very simple way to quickly adjust the balance and feel of the blade. After all, these aren't swords, with a well thought out balance between blade profile taper, distal taper and hilt/pommel. In my view, these are quick to produce, yet effective weapons of war. Nearly any smith could have churned these out in times of war and probably even hilt them quickly himself (no cross guard or pommel to carefully adjust and fit means hilting these should take a fraction of the time). The fact that these scallops may serve another purpose is just icing on the cake. Again, this is just my opinion, but it is quite amazing how taking just several ounces of weight from the distal end of a blade can have a profound and easily felt impact on blade dynamics...