[Maarten Smits]

Dear all,

I'm curious if any of you has some experience with the Chech swordmaker "ArmArt" (link: http://www.armart.antiquanova.com/). I think their website is quite professional, and on first glance their quality seems to be OK.

I couldn't find a review of any of their swords in this forum, so that's why I ask. I'm interested in buying my first sword, and I value authenticity and quality very much.

Thank you for any information on this topic!

Kind regards,
maarten smits from Utrecht, the Netherlands

[Lawrence Moran]

Thanks for the link tot hat maker...I had not seen it before.

Absolutely stunning blades to look at. The process looks good. They say all the right things throughout the site. Not having held one of the blades I could not comment on their handling. However, I strongly suspect that given the apparent effort put into making the swords the manufacturer is going to produce a blade that handles well.

Not sure what level of sword you are looking to purchase. It looks like their base model runs about $275. Their other models run as high as $500 and the custom work as high as $4000. That said, if the quality is really as good as it looks, the base sword at $275 is an ABSOLUTE STEAL!!!! Eastern European makers tend to less expensive but do not confuse that with cheap as in shoddy. I have some limited experience with some Czech makers and have been favorably impressed with the work for the price point at which it is offered.

I would say again, if you were looking at the base sword (at CZK 5900 or $275), I say jump on it. I am tempted to buy that myself just to see if the quality is as good as the pictures look. For the same price from a major Western company, you are going to get something mass produced in India bby Windlass Steelcrafts. I am not denigrating Windlass, which does some nice work, but what you are going to get is a decorative rather than a functional peice. You might also get a piece of junk with a thread hollow rod tang and blade with no heat treatment at all.

There are some other Czech and Eastern European makers out there with comparable prices but this place looks very, very good.

[Maarten Smits]

Dear Lawrence,

Thanks for your info! That does give me some direction. I must admit that I "fell in love" with the S4B Knightly Sword with bronze fittings and engravings. I think I have seen thousands of swords on the net in the past months, but haven't found anyone I liked better than that sword.

Perhaps you also find it interesting to hear that I visited another Czech swordmaker this summer with a couple of buddies. We were in Prague and surroundings (in Prague, there is no way you can buy a decent sword, you must leave the tourist areas to get the real thing). We went to Kolin, a small place east of Prague, and we simply visited the blacksmith who was in the middle of creating very handsome swords. Also very impressive! I believe I have seen a review of one of his swords in the review section as well, but here's the link to his website: http://www.swords.cz/ (Pavel Moc is his name).

He is a bit cheaper than Armart, and the quality (and friendliness!!) of these guys was absolutely worth the trip!
maarten

[Jonathan Blair]

I've never bought or held an ArmArt. I can only pass along hearsay, but this is what I've heard:

"If the ArmArt sword is in stock and ready for shipment when you order, then go for it. If the sword is not in stock when you order it, then find another sword that is in stock, or buy your sword somewhere else."

Apparently, some have had some real issues with ArmArt's customer service. Swords ordered and two years later still no sword, swords that were supposed to be one thing and turned out differently (in a major way). I'm sure a search here will turn up more info, as I remember it being discussed before. Caveat emptor applies as always, but perhaps doubly so with ArmArt.

[Chad Arnow]

I've moved your topic to the Off-Topic forum, since you're asking about a maker, not a specific weapon.

Also, please see here for more info, as ArmArt has been discussed many times before:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=8750
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=7709

There is much more info available with our forum search function. Happy hunting!

[Lawrence Moran]

I must say I am terribly disappointed to hear about their problems with customer service and delivery.

The stuff on the site is really quite nice and the prices are reasonable. Of course, reasonable prices for stuff you never recieve are not really very reasonable after all...

I may roll the dice as it were and order one of their in stock items. I will have to beg the wife's permission first I guess. Not to mention, I suspect delivery to Iraq would be a bit of an issue.

[Russ Ellis]

You can also find a few short Armart reviews on my site. I've handled several of their pieces now and for the most part they are fairly well built, although they do make some concessions in the historical accuracy department to keep prices down, that's not all that unusual in a production sword company. I would encourage you to do searches both here and at www.swordforum.com, as well.

[Mikael Ranelius]

I recently bought an Armart S32 "Lord of Milan Sword", a truly wonderful sword that is a pleasure to handle

I bought it from a retailer who had one in stock though, so I never had the notorious problems with order and delivery from the company in the Czech republic

[Martin Kopf]

I don´t have experiences with Armart,but I have a problem with Arma Bohemia. Their work looks really good and the prices are qiet ok,but I ordered and paid a Dagger in August and got the promis to have the Dagger in the beginning of october and til now only excuses,so better buy in stock,seems the clocks run different there