[Raymond Deancona]

Ancient Forge Review:

This is not an in depth review of each piece; lengths, weights, etc. The sword and dagger are solid and well made. Instead this is a review of the maker and the process of ordering custom pieces from this maker.

Back in early 2016 I contacted Javier Sole at Ancient Forge to see if he would be interested in a commission. I had been following his projects on Facebook for some time. We corresponded and agreed on a concept. I asked him to do a Celt/Iberian triangle dagger. I requested the piece to be less decorated than originals, and to be functional and sharp. Price and delivery date were agreed upon, deposit sent and the project put on the list. Within that period I requested an additional piece to be made; this time an ancient Germanic slashing sword similar to La Tene swords. Again a price and delivery date were agreed upon – pushed out a bit as the pieces would be sent together to save a double shipping bill. Javier kept me updated on progress with pictures and messages. We generally communicated through Facebook, and pictures were uploaded to the Ancient Forge site as progress was made on each piece.

Included is the link to the photo section:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ancientforgegrupo/photos/

My two pieces are in there (scroll down a bit…), and what I like best is the creation pictures of each piece. I enjoyed seeing the progress made on each weapon until completion.

The box arrived on time from Spain. The box was damaged in transit, but luckily the pieces were just fine. The dagger and sword were packed very well, and it took a while to get them free of the packing. Once out of the box I was more than happy with the results. The triangle dagger was exactly what I envisioned. The Germanic sword was even better. F.114 steel was used for both blades (equivalent to 1045 steel). I requested no scabbards be made by Javier as I wanted to try my hand at making these. (at this point I am making a second scabbard for the dagger not happy with my first attempt) Fit and finish on both pieces is excellent with no gaps, shifting, nicks, dings or other blemishes. The price for this custom work is exceptionally reasonable and the delivery date was met! I will order again from Ancient Forge, which is my best recommendation.

Javier gave his kind permission to use his photos of my finished commissions. He is a much better photographer!