[David McElrea]

Hi all,

A couple of pieces from Neil Burridge of Bronze Age Craft.

The first piece is one of Neil Burridge’s Ewart Park swords, finished by Neil himself. The pommel and plates are fashioned from Yew and are patterned after one of the Scottish Ewart Parks (in style rather than materials). The blade edges bare the hallmark edge-hardening lines of Neil’s work, which sees to reflect the practices of the original BA sword-makers.

It is a remarkably light blade, yet has the blade presence you would expect from a leaf-shaped blade. It is comfortable in-hand, especially lending itself to the handshake grip (although hammer grip is also comfortable).

I don’t know what to add beyond that this is a beautifully done piece. Neil, if you see this, thank you again.

The second piece is Neil’s basal-looped spearhead, also late Bronze Age, and representative of a number of finds across the British Isles (especially Ireland). I’ve yet to give it its final polish… but the pictures should speak for themselves as to the quality of Neil’s craftsmanship, especially given he complexity of the spearhead itself.

There is some uncertainty as to how these spearheads were attached to their shafts as they have both basal loops and rivet holes. I chose to rely on rivets alone, interpreting the basal loops as an attractive nod to earlier stages in the development of socketed spears. The shaft is ash and the wool binding is purely decorative, (although it also makes for a smooth gradation between socket and shaft.

Neil is one of the most gracious and helpful sword-makers I have dealt with and I heartily recommend both the man and the products to anyone who is not already familiar with his work (which is near legendary amongst Bronze Age enthusiasts).

You can see some of his work here:

http://www.bronze-age-craft.com/swords_for_sale.htm

David

[M. Eversberg II]

I've always been an admirer of Neil's work, and this is no exception. I only wish I had the funds for a fully finished Ewart Park!

M.

[David McElrea]

Hi M,

Picking these up is a part of my longstanding goal to build a collection ranging from the Paleolithic to late Medieval periods. The thing is, there are an awful lot of attractive BA pieces out there, and it's always easier to justify spending the money on them because they are so much less expensive than the other periods (don't know why they are, but am thankful that this is the case).

It's a rough economy, but Neil's prices are exceptionally good value, especially given the quality of his work. It could be worth giving him a call, still.

David

[Artis Aboltins]