[Lance Morris]

Hey guys,

i've had a few arms and armour items over the last few years. Every one has broken or fallen apart. They have been pretty good about repairing or fixing the items but I feel their weapons aren't very well made.

first it was the daggers pommels breaking off... and they just weld them back on. then The pole Axe shears apart and I'm told they just forgot to add welds...... why are there welds anyway? on their site they don't advertise traditional manufacturing... but I would think with new tools and steel the items would be better... not worse

now this last time, one of my fav swords broke in the handle. completely fell apart and on closer inspection it shows that they welded the tang on!!!! that's not ok in higher end swords. That's something you see in wall hangers.

check out the pictures, that's a weld right?

I'm not sure what to even do about it. sih and move on I guess

[Jeroen T]

They Welded a tang????
Are A&A blades €40 chinese made katanas?????
How on earth can they justify Welding a tang on a blade, especially with their prices????

[Mikko Kuusirati]

There are several companies by that name, which one are we talking about?

That aside, the problem here is not that the tang is welded, it's that the weld is bad. You can see that it failed to penetrate to any depth, so instead of being effectively fused into one the two pieces are only joined on the surface. Lutel, by contrast, also uses welded-on threaded extensions (it's a lot cheaper and easier than putting threads on the tang itself) but they do it right and the result is just as sturdy as a tang forged or ground out of one piece of steel.

[Jeroen T]

If it was my blade i would contact them right away.
I wouldn't even want a new blade with the same stinking welded on tang. I would ask for my money back.

[Victor R.]

Sounds like you've had some bad luck on the QC end of things. However, as for getting bent out of shape over a welded tang, I recall reading several times about forge welded tangs on extant pieces, as well as forge welded repairs. So, the concept of a weld doesn't offend me, since a proper weld can be stronger than whole metal; only the concept of a poorly executed weld offends me. And screw tops.

[Justin H Nunez]

A&A have been around along time. I am sure that they will make it right.

[Lance Morris]

Hey guys,

It's A&A from Minnesota


I may contact them but I don't think so
It's the fourth weapon that's broken in a year from them
And I don't want them to just re weld the blade back together

[Roger Hooper]

[Mikko Kuusirati]

This one?

Well, that's quite a surprise - I didn't even know they've ever used that kind of threaded construction on anything besides some of their blunts. (Is that a custom piece or an old model or something? I can't find it in their catalog...)

PS. I'm a slow typer.

[Craig Johnson]

Hi Guys

Well this is not good. I think it is one of our items. We have done a couple in that style over the years. The grip looks a bit different then we would usually do but it is probably one of ours. I do not think it is something we have done in the recent past. I do not have a record of Landon purchasing this from us, so he may have gotten it in the after market. We have never had a standard of doing a weld like that on our pieces. Our usual when a tang is welded is to have a long scarf weld not a dovetail like that.

In structure it should be decently strong but that weld was obviously not done correctly. There are times when we have done up a piece for someone that has been ordered for display and it might have been done like that but not one that I can remember. We of course will stand by the piece and redo a new blade for it if Landon would like. He has definitely caught the short end of things from us and I am not sure how. But it is not acceptable to us.

If you are willing drop me a note and we can work out a way to make this right for you.

Best
Craig

[Dean F. Marino]

Fairly disgusted. A WELD? Mid tang?

Just a personal opinion - not fact, subject to other opinions....

This line of swords consist of rattails. I will NEVER consider purchasing any A&A offering until I can SEE the tang of the offered blade without ANY grip or pommel.

Before anyone gets mad - I would say the same of MOST MFG's. They HIDE these common defects under a "cute grip".
Again - just MY opinion - that thing is junk from the get-go.

(Edit) THANK YOU Lance. You have likely revealed a "Line Manufacturing Fault" in these swords. If I could beg a favor..... would you consider posting your tear down photos into the "Sword Manufacturing Database" at SBG? Here, folks like you and I SHOW how particular offerings are actually CONSTRUCTED.

[GG Osborne]

This is what I would want to hear from any manufacturer, Craig. Bluntly speaking, not everything can be perfect; mistakes do happen. But it is the willingness to make things right that - at least in my mind - makes the difference. I would also posit that swords are not indestructible. Originals broke also, Brittle steel, forge weldings gone wrong, etc. Hard use will put any tool to the test. I'm not saying this is what happened in this case but hard use can obviously compromise a sword.

I have bought many items from A&A over the years and have never had a problem with anything either in design or execution. I have never had to ask them to stand behind a purchase but I have ever confidence that they would to my satisfaction.

[Dean F. Marino]

[T. Kew]

That's not a 'rat tail'. There's plenty of material in it, all the way through - even at the pommel, it's still fairly solid (at least as solid as most other swords with a screwed on pommel, and very few swords take more metal that far to peen in place). I've seen originals in museums with narrower tangs.

Similarly, a weld in the middle of the grip is fine. Plenty of perfectly good swords are made that way. When a weld is done thoroughly, it is (as Mikko noted) just as strong as a solid piece of steel. The problem seems much more likely to be the quality of the weld, than its existence - I'd be happy to own a sword with a weld in the middle of the grip, and in fact I'm likely to buy one in the next year or so.

How about people tone down the vitriol here?

[Dean F. Marino]

[Sam Barris]

Weird. I've never had any issues with my A&A pieces. Did you buy it directly from them or get it secondhand? I'm wondering whether we're looking from something that came out of their shop or someone's home patch job.

[J.D. Crawford]

[Philip Dyer]

[Nathan Robinson]

There's nothing wrong with welding tangs, especially if done in that manner. Obviously something went horribly wrong with that one, but if the technique is done correctly, it's often going to be stronger than a single piece of steel. It looks like your weld was poorly done and did not have adequate penetration as mentioned above.

I can't imagine what was being done with these weapons to get so many breakages. That is baffling to me.

There's a lot of ignorance combined with strong opinions in this topic.

[Nathan Robinson]

Why does the tang on that blade have incised lines on it as if it was a ricasso of a Type XIX blade?