[Edward Lee]

Hello

Is there a running sword repair shop active now? I have a sword with a cracked grip, and also in need of a simple scabbard. Please let me know if anyone could do it.

Thanks

[Jeffrey Faulk]

Repairing or replacing cracked grips is usually not terribly difficult to do yourself. Nor is making a simple scabbard. But if you have neither the time nor the inclination to do so yourself, there are a few options.

-- Arms and Armour (don't know if they work on swords that are NOT made by them, though)-- medium to expensive
-- Ernie Roessler at Yeshua's Sword-- low end to high, depends on how fancy you want things
-- Sonny Suttles, Valiant Armoury-- same as above.
-- Christian Fletcher (high end, expensive but high quality work)
-- Brian Kunz (ditto)
-- Russ Ellis, Tritonworks
-- If he returns to the US and resumes business (isn't he overseas again?)-- Jonathan Sarge
-- If you want to ship overseas-- Leo Todeschini, UK. Expensive but highly regarded in historic accuracy.

I'm sure there are any number of amateurs on the forums who would be happy to do the job for a reasonable price, but your guarantees are a little less certain there.

A good question to ask yourself before picking someone to do the work for you is if it's worth getting it redone. A $100 blade doesn't need $1,000 worth of fittings unless it has a particular sentimental value or is actually worth more than that. My rule of thumb is that I don't want to pay more for the fitting out than I did for the sword. There are a few exceptions but that's the general rule. If the sword is below, say, $150 in cost, then that pretty much means I accept it as is or do the fitting myself.