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Cheap "Alexandria Arsenals" Sword
An MRL "Weekly Special" item ($160). It's not my bag, but is a nice-looking piece that can at least be compared in detail to the orginal, documented here ( http://www.myArmoury.com/feature_alexandria.html ) by Bjørn Hellqvist. The inappropriate diamond section of the lower blade could be tamed with some filing.

http://www.museumreplicas.com/webstore/eCat/S...0Ring.aspx


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I wonder why they left out the specs for this sword over at MRL?

They wimped out on the ricasso and the grooves on each side of it.

OK for $160.00 I guess, but they really should have made it a XIX blade.
Yes, the flattened diamond rules at Windlass, I'm afraid. But I reduced the diamond of a Windlass basket hilt blade to a lozenge shape without too much difficulty (hand file only). Reducing this one to something more like a Type XIX section would be a bit more challenging, but not too daunting. The result wouldn't be remotely comparable to a fine, well-researched reproduction, but it'd give the owner something better than a $160 sword. Some folks pay much more for much less historically plausible designs. Looks like a fun project :D

Just so there's no misunderstanding--I have no idea if this is a decent piece even by MRL standards. Might fall apart or be 20" too short or weigh15 lbs or be made of old beer cans or have a tang literally made from a rat's tail. Caveat Emptor, is what I'm saying. :lol:


Last edited by Sean Flynt on Tue 11 Apr, 2006 2:04 pm; edited 1 time in total
Sean Flynt wrote:
Looks like a fun project.


While I agree with you, I just can;t afford for you to go off and inspire me at the moment. This (or rather the original) is one of the first historical swords to have ever REALLY caught my attention, so any upgrades you might do to one of these would doom me to buying a sword I probably don't need.

Of course, don't let any of the above stop you; just know that you are taking me down with you (I don't have a girfriend, let alone a wife, so you'ld probably suffer more anyway). :p

-Grey
Sorry about that, Grey. :D This site is sort of the opposite of AA--we support each other in our addiction!
Anyway, if I jump into the pool again any time soon it'll be for MRL's estoc. I have plans....

:evil: JUST SAY NO TO ARMS & ARMOUR :evil:
Sean Flynt wrote:
Sorry about that, Grey. :D This site is sort of the opposite of AA--we support each other in our addiction!
Anyway, if I jump into the pool again any time soon it'll be for MRL's estoc. I have plans....

:evil: JUST SAY NO TO ARMS & ARMOUR :evil:


Exactly: Go ahead buy that sword there is nothing more important. Do not resist the impulse it will only delay your order. Do call / write to the makers and ask questions about how soon you can get it if you should decide to order now making it almost impossible to not buy on impulse, any delay may force you to spend on what others think is sensible.

Willpower is not resisting the impulse to buy more swords, willpower is to resist the impulse to save money.

Come on you can afford it. :evil: ( Joking sarcasm: if it wasn't obvious. ;) )
Jean Thibodeau wrote:
Sean Flynt wrote:
Sorry about that, Grey. :D This site is sort of the opposite of AA--we support each other in our addiction!
Anyway, if I jump into the pool again any time soon it'll be for MRL's estoc. I have plans....

:evil: JUST SAY NO TO ARMS & ARMOUR :evil:


Exactly: Go ahead buy that sword there is nothing more important. Do not resist the impulse it will only delay your order. Do call / write to the makers and ask questions about how soon you can get it if you should decide to order now making it almost impossible to not buy on impulse, any delay may force you to spend on what others think is sensible.

Willpower is not resisting the impulse to buy more swords, willpower is to resist the impulse to save money.

Come on you can afford it. :evil: ( Joking sarcasm: if it wasn't obvious. ;) )


It was noticable, but I also appreciate it. Life has been a bit too serious lately for me.

Jean is right, I can afford it, and Sean is right, we do support each other in our addiction, but I am going to have to be the rebel and say that I think an Albion Steward is more important at the moment. After all it falls in the 13th-14th century category (my period of interest), and the piece in question is dated 1432. Net result: I have decided that people whose first names end in "ean" are conspiring to spend my money on swords (which would be handy, as I could thus excuse myself from most of my financial decisions), and I am still going to have to pass on this sword in favour of my mortgage. :cry:

-Grey
Greyson Brown wrote:

It was noticable, but I also appreciate it. Life has been a bit too serious lately for me.

Jean is right, I can afford it, and Sean is right, we do support each other in our addiction, but I am going to have to be the rebel and say that I think an Albion Steward is more important at the moment. After all it falls in the 13th-14th century category (my period of interest), and the piece in question is dated 1432. Net result: I have decided that people whose first names end in "ean" are conspiring to spend my money on swords (which would be handy, as I could thus excuse myself from most of my financial decisions), and I am still going to have to pass on this sword in favour of my mortgage. :cry:

-Grey


Or you could wait for the Albion Condottierre to come out .
Evil, that's the word for it, Roger, evil! I still have to buy a car in the near future, too (the U.S. Army, at least in Europe, has the advantage that being a pedestrian isn't too bad). If you suggest things like that I'll be forced to go and take out a loan that I REALLY can't afford. :D

-Grey


Last edited by Greyson Brown on Tue 11 Apr, 2006 3:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
Greyson;

Now the willpower to not buy a sword because one is saving for a much more expensive sword is just THE sensible way to overspend and a good excuse to not buy the cheaper, in both senses of the word, sword. ;) :lol:

Well the mortgage is important too because you need the place to keep the swords. :p

( Glad I gave you a laugh, hope this is another one. :D )
Greyson Brown wrote:
...I still have to buy a car in the near future, too....
No, No, No! Just buy a Vespa. Or :idea: better yet, :idea: a used bicycle. Just make sure that the two wheeler has sword racks! :D
Is this is an older model sword of theirs? Something they found a half dozen or so of in the back room, perhaps? :?:
G. Scott H. wrote:
Is this is an older model sword of theirs? Something they found a half dozen or so of in the back room, perhaps? :?:


Just as an FYI to folks, the original of this model was not Windlass but Del Tin. Or so it said in the catalogs. Whether or not there was a later Windlass version or not I can't recall. I would't rule it out, but it would be worth asking to see, possibly, if this is not in fact a Del Tin left over....
Jean Thibodeau wrote:
Exactly: Go ahead buy that sword there is nothing more important. Do not resist the impulse it will only delay your order. Do call / write to the makers and ask questions about how soon you can get it if you should decide to order now making it almost impossible to not buy on impulse, any delay may force you to spend on what others think is sensible.

Resistance is futile. You will be impoverished. :D
Actually, that blade looks just like the one on the 15th C Longsword. Not too bad. Pretty stiff, as far as MRL blades go.

Cheers,

Chris
Scott Byler wrote:

Just as an FYI to folks, the original of this model was not Windlass but Del Tin. Or so it said in the catalogs. Whether or not there was a later Windlass version or not I can't recall. I would't rule it out, but it would be worth asking to see, possibly, if this is not in fact a Del Tin left over....


Do you mean DT2151? Here is a myArmoury review of that sword - http://www.myArmoury.com/review_dt2151.html - a strange hand-and-a-half version of the Alexandria sword, perhaps designed from a photograph. At least it has a lenticular blade. Or are you saying that Del Tin supplied another finger-ringed sword to MRL back in the days when they were the featured brand at MRL?
I did wonder if this sudden clearance of a sword I don't recall seeing had something to do with the sudden clearence of old DT blades at Atlanta Cutlery (MRL's owner). Did I hear somewhere that after MRL and DT parted ways, Windlass took up some of the old DT designs? Maybe this piece is from that era. I wish I had time to look through my old catalogs....
MRL did indeed issue many Windlass versions of DT swords they had carried. In some cases the catalogue still showed pics of the DT version with DT's maker mark, though the copy said it was a Windlass sword.
Sean Flynt wrote:
I did wonder if this sudden clearance of a sword I don't recall seeing had something to do with the sudden clearence of old DT blades at Atlanta Cutlery (MRL's owner). Did I hear somewhere that after MRL and DT parted ways, Windlass took up some of the old DT designs? Maybe this piece is from that era. I wish I had time to look through my old catalogs....


This was the first time I ever saw that MRL model as well. It shows up, not as a closeout, but as one of the Weekly Specials (along with the putrid Shrewbury Sword), marked down from $245.00 to $160.00. I suspect this was a new design that they decided wasn't going to sell. I remember another sword, one that was inspired by the same original as was Albion's Castellan Sword, that lived a similar half life.

I started getting MRL catalogues in 1999, after the MRL/Del Tin era. I never saw anything close to this design, and I would have noticed since I am obsessed with the Alexandrian Arsenal sword.
Roger Hooper wrote:
Scott Byler wrote:

Just as an FYI to folks, the original of this model was not Windlass but Del Tin. Or so it said in the catalogs. Whether or not there was a later Windlass version or not I can't recall. I would't rule it out, but it would be worth asking to see, possibly, if this is not in fact a Del Tin left over....


Do you mean DT2151? Here is a myArmoury review of that sword - http://www.myArmoury.com/review_dt2151.html - a strange hand-and-a-half version of the Alexandria sword, perhaps designed from a photograph. At least it has a lenticular blade. Or are you saying that Del Tin supplied another finger-ringed sword to MRL back in the days when they were the featured brand at MRL?


Hi, Roger.... Nah, I had a brain burp and posted without much attentiveness to the actual sword posted above. Must be a bit more careful about that in the future....
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