myArmoury.com - Sovereign pics

Posts: 9,545 Location: Dayton, OH

Fri 27 Aug, 2004 2:40 pm

Sovereign pics

Hey folks,
I got my Sovereign today, despite UPS's best efforts (they sent it from Wisconsin to Illinois to New Jersey). Apparently they don't own a globe at UPS.....

I'm happy with it over all. The grip is more brown than the oxblood I ordered, but Jason Dingledine gave me some tips to try to bring out more of the oxblood in it (thanks, Jason!). I polished up the bronze, and scrubbed a bit of crud off the blade, and she looks great.

I'm hoping to go kill some pool noodles tonight. :)

Here are a couple of quick pics.

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W. Patrick McGuigan

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Posts: 30 Location: Ohio

Fri 27 Aug, 2004 3:12 pm

Congratulations Chad! It's gorgeous!

The bronze looks very nice.

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Joe Fults

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Posts: 3,646 Location: Midwest

Fri 27 Aug, 2004 3:16 pm

I agree...the bronze does look nice.

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Gary Grzybek

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Posts: 559 Location: Stillwater N.J.

Fri 27 Aug, 2004 3:46 pm

Very nice indeed :D

I really love my Sovereign not only for it's handling aspects but it's a real looker too :eek:

Enjoy!

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Chad Arnow

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Posts: 9,545 Location: Dayton, OH

Fri 27 Aug, 2004 6:06 pm

Hey guys,
Thanks for the kind words. I really dig this sword. I wish the grip were more oxblood than brown, but I don't think I'll send it back. :) It did well against pool noodles, and feels good in the hand The subtleties of the cross are cool, and the blade is very nicely executed over all. The shape of the grip with the risers is both comfortable and good-looking. The pommel is nice, though I may have to fill in the pommel recess with something. I'm happy with it.

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B. Stark

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Posts: 395

Fri 27 Aug, 2004 7:05 pm

I must say I'm happy with my all steel Sovereign. The all bronze looks fantastic as well. Are you going to be at sword fest Chad?

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Chad Arnow

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Posts: 9,545 Location: Dayton, OH

Fri 27 Aug, 2004 7:09 pm

B. Stark wrote:

I must say I'm happy with my all steel Sovereign. The all bronze looks fantastic as well. Are you going to be at sword fest Chad?

Unfortunately, I have to work that weekend (the life of a musician). I hope to make the next one, though.

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Mike Fletcher

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Posts: 102 Location: Auburn, CA USA

Fri 27 Aug, 2004 9:02 pm

That's a really beautiful sword, Chad! Congratulations and thanks for sharing the pics. :)

Any chance of seeing a formal review one of these days?

Regards,

Mike

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Brian M

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Posts: 500 Location: Austin, TX

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 12:54 am

Nice! The Sovereign is right at the top of my list, but I might hold out for the upcoming "plain" type-XIV. It will be interesting to see the two side-by side.

Brian M

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Kenneth Enroth

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Posts: 288 Location: Finland

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 10:12 am

Nice sword. I'm really fond of mine. It has a lot of medieval charm. Did the bronze guard move the POB closer?

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Chad Arnow

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Posts: 9,545 Location: Dayton, OH

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 10:26 am

Kenneth Enroth wrote:

Nice sword. I'm really fond of mine. It has a lot of medieval charm. Did the bronze guard move the POB closer?

Not by my calculations. It adds about 1 oz to the overall weight, and the POB is still at 4 inches.

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Eric McHugh

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Posts: 427 Location: Crown Point, IN

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 11:03 am

Grip

Chad Arnow wrote:

Hey guys,
Thanks for the kind words. I really dig this sword. I wish the grip were more oxblood than brown, but I don't think I'll send it back. :) It did well against pool noodles, and feels good in the hand The subtleties of the cross are cool, and the blade is very nicely executed over all. The shape of the grip with the risers is both comfortable and good-looking. The pommel is nice, though I may have to fill in the pommel recess with something. I'm happy with it.

Chad, glad you like the sword. Chad, oxblood (according to Feibings) is a brownish red. It is made by adding brown to red and adding some blue to bring out the burgundy. The humidity sometimes effects the color too. Two pieces of the same leather with the same bottle of dye, dyed at different humidity levels will yield slightly different shades. In any event, the only way to get an oxblood grip to be red is to make it "red" instead of oxblood. :)

Are you coming up to Lanzefest or Swordfest? If so, you can bring it with you and I can try to adjust it to your liking.

Last edited by Eric McHugh on Sat 28 Aug, 2004 11:23 am; edited 1 time in total

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Chad Arnow

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Posts: 9,545 Location: Dayton, OH

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 11:19 am

Re: Grip

Eric McHugh wrote:

Chad, glad you like the sword. Chad, oxblood (according to Feibings) is a brownish red. It is made by adding brown to red and adding some blue to bring out the burgundy. The humidity sometimes effects the color too. Two pieces of the same leather with the same bottle of dye will, dyed at different humidity levels will yield slightly different shades. In any event, the only way to get an oxblood grip to be red is to make it "red" instead of oxblood. :)

Are you coming up to Lanzefest or Swordfest? If so, you can bring it with you and I can try to adjust it to your liking.

Eric,
Thanks for the explanation. The grip color is fine; I originally ordered brown, the changed to oxblood, the almost changed back to brown. Maybe a touch more in the maroon department would be cool. But I'm inclined to leave it as it is for now.

I can't make SwordFest, but I may make it to Lanzefest. If my wife has to work over Labor Day weekend, then I'll make the trek northward.

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Eric McHugh

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Posts: 427 Location: Crown Point, IN

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 11:23 am

Re: Grip

Chad Arnow wrote:

I can't make SwordFest, but I may make it to Lanzefest. If my wife has to work over Labor Day weekend, then I'll make the trek northward.

Very Cool!!! Well, if you change your mind, bring it along, and I'll see what I can do. :)

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Timothy Gulics

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Posts: 353 Location: NJ, US

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 12:26 pm

Well, it came to Jersey for a reason...

Don't worry, I wiped my fingerprints off before sending the Sov on its way ;)

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Thomas Jason

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Posts: 230 Location: New Joisey

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 1:33 pm

Eric: That may be the way Feiblings describes oxblood, but I believe the attached picture is what most people associate with oxlblood leather.

In essence it's the "lawyer's office furnature" oxblood people are thinking about. If it's truly oxblood, I don't know though.

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Eric McHugh

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Posts: 427 Location: Crown Point, IN

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 1:55 pm

Thomas Jason wrote:

Eric: That may be the way Feiblings describes oxblood, but I believe the attached picture is what most people associate with oxlblood leather.

In essence it's the "lawyer's office furnature" oxblood people are thinking about. If it's truly oxblood, I don't know though.

I understand. That looks like it has some brown in it too. It is a difficult thing. Leather dye likes to do its own thing. We cannot use the same process that a factory would use to make furniture. That process, though it makes color very standard, keeps the leather from taking water and glue, so we could not do our signature grips. Add to this the fact that even though we have a very large dehumidifier, Wisconsin is pretty humid in the summer. That humidity effects the way the dye sets in the leather and as a result we get different shades. It is a frustrating thing all around. With that said, oxblood as the Fiebings rep said has brown in it, so in order to get a red grip, red should be used. I know I sound defensive, please understand I'm not, but it is a difficult thing to match a color to a person's expectation. It drives us insane many days. The best I can say is that if it is really off, we can try and fix it. We want people to be happy with their sword. That is the bottom line.

You mentioned "lawyer's office furniture" oxblood...are you sure it is ox-blood? :p

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Chad Arnow

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Posts: 9,545 Location: Dayton, OH

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 2:17 pm

Eric,
Not to fuel the fire, but the website's graphic makes it look like there's a noticeable difference between brown and ox-blood. I think that's where the "customer's expectation" comes from. We're expecting something closer to the picture.

[ Linked Image ]

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Joe Fults

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Posts: 3,646 Location: Midwest

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 2:46 pm

Chad...from the picture....I can't tell the oxblood from the brown. I can tell the light brown though.

I guess we all just need to emphaze more reddish and less brownish when we want that.

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Chad Arnow

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Posts: 9,545 Location: Dayton, OH

Sat 28 Aug, 2004 2:51 pm

Joe Fults wrote:

Chad...from the picture....I can't tell the oxblood from the brown. I can tell the light brown though.

I guess we all just need to emphaze more reddish and less brownish when we want that.

Joe,
On this monitor, there's a definite difference. The oxblood has a lot of maroon, while the brown looks, well, brown. :) Based on what I can see from that pic on Albion's site, my grip looks to be a darker brown than their brown.

As I said, it's a little different than what I expected, but not enough of an issue to warrant having it re-done right now.

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