[Jeffrey Faulk]

Hello,

For the amateur customizers of blades out there, Kult of Athena has decided to post a number of blades otherwise considered unacceptable for their standards of quality to sell for severely reduced prices on their website. In the interest of spreading the word, here it is if you haven't already noticed it on their Facebook:

http://kultofathena.com/new_items.asp

These are mainly Windlass pieces but a number are Del Tin, Darksword, Legacy Arms (formerly Generation 2) and Universal Swords. They are mainly sabers and medieval pieces, but there are a few oddballs in there such as a Del Tin rapier or a Legacy Arms gladius. There's also a Hanwei Chinese jian. I suspect that due to the individual nature of the damages they are listing, each listing may be only one or two swords, so if you see something that you like, you may want to go ahead and 'pull the trigger' on that. Some examples: Windlass M1860 saber for $50 (!), Valiant Armoury Castile for $100 (!!! That's a very nice piece for the price), and so forth.

These all have some cosmetic or mechanical issue, however for some work you could get an extremely decent blade for a very good price. If nothing else, parts for a future project Cosmetic issues are easily enough dealt with-- scratches, leather-work, and what not. There are some with more serious damage such as mis-aligned or bent blades, however a little work will clean that up.

There are also more in their 'Special Sales' section, although most of those are simply 'normal' swords that they are trying to get rid of to clear out old stock, I think. There are some Darkswords in here, some katana, and a number of Universal Sword sabers that have more serious issues but could be repaired or broken up for parts (if you feel like breaking up a $100 purchase, anyway!).

http://kultofathena.com/sale.asp

Enjoy

[Shahril Dzulkifli]

Twelve of the newly-arrived swords were called 'blowouts' - a term used for an item with scratches and dents - which differ likely from the pictured item.

[Karl Knisley]

[Max L]

[Will McIntyre]

Wow, thanks for the heads up! Scooped up one of the VAAtrim arming swords

[Roger Hooper]

I just received my KOA blowout acquisition - a Baltimore Knife and Sword blunt longsword. The defect is a slightly bent blade, especially towards the blade tip. Looking at the side-view photo, it didn't seem to be that much. At 45% off it seemed like a good buy. I was curious about the BKS longswords from a stage combat perspective. Earlier I'd bought one of their cutlasses, and it had functioned and held out very well in the rigors of stage combat.

So I now have it, and the blade bend is minimal. The sword is a little overweight at 3lbs 11oz and has no distal taper to speak of, but it handles adequately. The blade is 32 inches long as are the great majority of BKS longswords It's definitely worth the $220.00 that I paid for it. Not a pretty sword, but it will look OK from a distance.

I wonder if BKS could be persuaded to put some more distal taper in their blades while keeping their durability?