MRL Offers "create your own sword"
Check it out: http://www.museumreplicas.com/c-135-create-your-own-sword.aspx

Quote:
Old world craftsmanship meets new age technology in one of the most innovative ideas Museum Replicas has ever offered, Create Your Own Sword™! Using items from this section on our website, you will become your own swordsmith. Choose from a wide variety of beautiful parts, all manufactured by the artisans at Windlass Steelcrafts. By mixing and matching these parts hundreds of unique possibilities are possible. You can even have your medieval sword engraved, sharpened and choose a period scabbard. Our master craftsmen will do all assembly of your final sword design at our facility here in the US. Commence designing your own one-of-a-kind swords at MuseumReplicas.com
Brilliant! This is kind of what I'd like Albion to do.
Not really a lot of options, or else I'm quite confused... :\
Well spotted Chad.

That's a very interesting initiative, I think there is demand for that.

There is little choice in there for now, but still. Playing around with the builder, one can see that MRL would charge 100$ for a scabbard alone, 185$ for a bare blade. Unfortunately guards and pommel are not quoted separately.

Sam, I doubt that Albion will ever go down that road, as their forte is historical accuracy of the design.

J
Pretty cool! I agree that the number of options is pretty limited, but maybe it will expand as time goes on. I also agree that Albion should totally do this :lol:
I had to chuckle a bit to myself. I thought, "You mean I get to choose which grip I'm gonna rip apart and redo?" :lol: But seriously, this is neat. I've always been a fan of create-your-own...well anything. This is right up my ally. I wonder if you can opt to order just the blade and hilt parts. I hope they add more options. If they do it will be kind of like crack for us DIY project people. Right, Sean??? ;)
Similar options are available at Tried and True Armory -- and you get an ATrim blade instead of a Windlass one!
Definately cool, though more options would be nice. Apart from the sword-maker, I still can't stop laughing at how the explanation said "hundreds of unique possibilities are possible." If they're possibilities what else could they be? :lol:
Maybe I am doing it wrong but I'd like to be able to choose more than one type of blade.
Dan P wrote:
Maybe I am doing it wrong but I'd like to be able to choose more than one type of blade.


Hopefully they add more blade options, especially since that blade conflicts (historically and probaby harmonically) with some of the pommel / cross combinations. On the downside, one might note that some or most of these components are not quite historical, and that any arbitrary combination of components is not exactly historical. However its up to the consumer here to pick a combination that is quasi historical or one that is downright fantasy. Seems like a good way to get people hooked on customization. I really would have appreciated this a few years ago when I was longing to personalize my collection but could not afford the full custom route.
This is an interesting option to have on offer. Personally I don't care all that much for the options available, and it's clearly for non-sworders as much as it is for people experienced in the field, but aside from that the only problem I have with it is that whatever they're using to animate it is rather 'buggy' and my computer can't really handle it very well.

I'd like to see more variety of blade forms and lengths, personally... I wouldn't mind seeing that funky half-moon pommel on a longsword...
hmmm, it could be just my computer,but the link just brings me to their homepage. Looking around the site and I don't see such a survice anywhere. Am I looking at this wrong?



Regards.
The link is no longer active. Perhaps the tool was not intended to be live yet.
It's working for me ATM.

I agree it's interesting and I hope they've fully taken into consideration the weight and weight distribution issues a mix and match approach could create.
Where are the options to select a grip that won't wobble, a pommel that won't fall off or a blade that can stand up to cutting a wet paper towel without snapping in half?
Robert Rytel wrote:
Where are the options to select a grip that won't wobble, a pommel that won't fall off or a blade that can stand up to cutting a wet paper towel without snapping in half?


I think recent history has shown these issues not to be a problem with MRL stuff. Does your recent experience with their stuff differ?
Chad Arnow wrote:
I think recent history has shown these issues not to be a problem with MRL stuff. Does your recent experience with their stuff differ?



I've heard this before, but I've been burned many many many times by MRL and their absurdly shoddy craftsmanship. I thought I was beyond giving them any more chances but if people can honestly tell me now from experience that MRL has ascended to a whole new paradigm shift in quality, then perhaps I can afford a couple hundred bucks one more time and hope it isn't just going down the toilet on a fragile semi-sharpened car spring.
One of the MRL folks provided some information on another forum. He said the weights with the options listed balance out. He also said they will focus on one type of sword at a time. Right now it is a single handed medieval sword. If it is a successful run, the next build your own will be a longsword blade followed by a type X viking blade and so on.

Current blade from what I read is their European Sword blade.
Looks like a neat idea that could use some maturing.
Robert Rytel wrote:
Chad Arnow wrote:
I think recent history has shown these issues not to be a problem with MRL stuff. Does your recent experience with their stuff differ?



I've heard this before, but I've been burned many many many times by MRL and their absurdly shoddy craftsmanship. I thought I was beyond giving them any more chances but if people can honestly tell me now from experience that MRL has ascended to a whole new paradigm shift in quality, then perhaps I can afford a couple hundred bucks one more time and hope it isn't just going down the toilet on a fragile semi-sharpened car spring.


I completely understand where you're coming from. My experiences with Windlass were, at one time, of inconsistent craftsmanship -- sometimes okay, sometimes pretty shoddy. Very rarely did a Windlass sword handle very well. Pommels were of the screw-on variety, and inevitably came loose very quickly -- sometimes even right out of the box.

Well, more recently I decided to give Windlass a second try. I bought a five-lobe Viking sword on close-out for pretty cheap. If I didn't like it I could eBay it, I guess. Well, much to my surprise, the sword was pretty good for the price -- actually, it exceeded my expectations. Light, well-assembled, and the blade has a nice flex to it. Not too shoddy! I've tried a couple other Windlass swords since then, and they've been fine too. IMO, Windlass have upped their game. They have to, as they seem to realize that they are competing with other makers in the price range who have also improved their product lines lately (Hanwei much?).

Admittedly, this is a relatively small sample, but these experiences, coupled with other recent reviews, have convinced me that Windlass isn't the crapshoot it used to be. Do I recommend them to an experienced collector/user? Not necessarily. But to an entry-level user, they're a reasonable option.

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