Von Sussen Armories: Too Good to be True? -- myArmoury.com

Gregory Powell

I recently handled a 50" German Longsword from Von Sussen and it seemed very good to me, the construction seemed solid, the balence was good, the blade didn't deform even when cuts weren't cast properly. However, the low price makes me quite nervous. I was wondering if anyone had a chance to take one apart and have a look at the construction.

Gregory Powell · Posted: Thu 16 Feb, 2006 9:17 pm Post subject:

Even if no one has disassembled a Von Sussen sword, any impressions of the company would be greatly appreciated.

Gavin Kisebach · Posted: Thu 16 Feb, 2006 10:19 pm Post subject:

I haven't dealt with VonSussen directly, but I've handled some of their knives at the Burnt Village booth. The Burnt Village is something of a fixture at SCA events in the northwest, and as it turns out, VonSussen is the brother of the lady who owns Burnt Village.

I got the impression from her that he makes much of the smaller items that he sells, though obviously most of his stuff is third party. The seaxes, axes, and arrowheads I've handled I liked very much, in a munitions grade kind of way. In particular his seax blade, wich he sells bare, is a great blade for the price, IMAO. The sword you've shown is one of his pieces, it's probably a good deal. If its a "rEbay" item, skip it. My two cents.

William Goodwin · Posted: Fri 17 Feb, 2006 3:36 am Post subject:

I 've had one of Karl's brass swept hilt rapier for about 5-6 yrs, that I have carried as mainly a costume piece for Ren-Faires & doing Elizabeth living history events. Blade is Not tempered at all, but construction of overall piece is tough. I did have a freind cut the rat-tail tang off, shorten the riccasso just to strengthen things up more. It has served me well and been put through Hell. It's been sat on, stepped on , drug through mud, heck... one season I even back over it with my Bronco and it still is in good shape. Also it's the first piece I tried my hand at "antiquing" All in All if your just looking for a very sturdy costume piece Von Sussen, at least through my expereince, is a good value. As far as a fully "functional" piece don't even try it, the blade will bend like a prestel and stay bent, Karl will even tell you his stuff is not temper tested.

For a wall hanger or just a costume piece yes, other than that don't do it. Save a bit more money and get something you will truly enjoy.

Oh, just for craps & giggles, here's a shot of my Von Sussen brass hilt after antiquing.

Cheers,

Bill

Iain Norman · Posted: Fri 17 Feb, 2006 6:34 am Post subject:

Allot of his swords that I've seen on ebay Deepeeka pieces. All depends what you want to do with it I guess. I have to admit I've been tempted to try one out as well.

Cole Sibley · Posted: Fri 17 Feb, 2006 9:37 am Post subject:

I purchased one of 'his' maille hauberks, I believe it is the common 'made in India' stuff, and fair quality for the price, imho. I would guess that all of his stuff comes from India (Deepeeka, as mentioned above). From a customer service standpoint, I thought he was quite good for a large distributor. From a quality standpoint, I would say you get what you pay for (which is all one can expect, this is not a bad thing). I believe there are a number of reviews of his stuff at www.armourarchive.com as well.

Gregory Powell · Posted: Fri 17 Feb, 2006 6:45 pm Post subject:

I know that this longsword is both tempered, and has a full tang (not a rat tail... shudder, nothing as frightening as a 3 foot long piece of steel careening end over end into the audience).

I'm kind of toying with the idea of buying one to destruction test. If one can take a decent amount of long-term punishment (My friend and I were just bashing the heck out of one with a BKS Hand & a Half, testing to see if it would do for a mini-fight in a show one weekend... but I want to see if it would be suitable for a season's worth of punishment), I could shuffle some into my armory, and it could save me a whole heckofalot of money in the long term.