[Craig Peters]

My first sword was a "replica" of Peter the Great's sword, which I bought in York, England, in 2000: http://www.a2armory.com/images/peter-great-large.jpg . I banged up the edges fairly badly, and have since sold it. My second sword was a $300 (CAD) Sword of Valen from House of Knives. It's still a wall hanger, but it looks more "medieval" than the Peter the Great sword, and it had one of the less "fantasy" hilt furnitures of many swords offered by House of Knives at that time: http://www.trickstraps.com/Weapons/Large/Valen.JPG. I still keep it around, mostly so as a juxtaposition piece to contrast with my Albions.

My first real sword was the Albion Squireline Late 15th C Bastard Sword.

[Luka Borscak]

[Hadrian Coffin]

An antique American Civil War medical officers sword. My neighbor found it in an umbrella stand for $2 and bought it for me, I think I was around ten or eleven, I played with it all the time as a young child. In many ways it helped fuel my interest in the past. I miss the days when you could find antique swords for two dollars; with the internet everyone that has a sword can find its value and sell it, before the internet people not interested in swords just looked at them as "old things" and sold them for next to nothing. It still hangs on my wall, and is still my favorite sword...because of my history playing with it.
Cheers,
Hadrian

[Etienne Hamel]

here it is my frankenstein sword tough i don't know how it looks to all of you and i don't tthink if it can count as a custom but anyway it is my first fonctional sword

[Scott Kowalski]

That looks very nice Etienne. I think that all the pieces look good together. COngratulations on putting that together.

Scott

[Etienne Hamel]

thank you scott i apreciate it

[J.D. Crawford]

Thanks for the fun thread.

Here is a pic of my first 'sword'. I built it from a hockey stick more than 30 years ago. I can no longer read the Elven ruins. It actually has a nice balance.

A friend and I both made them, as well as shields, and with the addition of hockey masks we attempted to beat the heck out of each other in the backyard, until we were caught by my parents and moved our bouts to the local woods.

[David Sutton]

My first sword was this Hanwei Practical Knightly. I bought it in Conway back in 2002. I had spent a great day looking round the castle and then had a look around The Knight Shop which is located just across the road. It was pretty much an impulse buy. After seeing the selection of swords on display and with daydreams of the castle and knights swirling around my head I was not leaving Conway without a sword! I think I made a fairly good choice given all the gaudy wall hangers they had, I didn't know much about swords then but this one appealed to me as it looked more like the ones I had seen illustrated in books or in museums. Plus the chap there said it was 'Battle Ready'! Last year I cleaned it up and re-wrapped the grip with chamois leather.

[Martin Murd]

My first is "Practical Single-Hand Hanwei Sword"

Has seen quite an abuse and training against different swords and trainers. For some reason it has served me over 2 years now and i am thinking of replacing my trainer and wallhanging this one.

[Viktor Johansson]

My Albion Talhoffer sword came today! It was quite the thing to hold one properly balanced sword for the first time. It felt more heavy then I expected, I would probably have a hard time using it with only one hand. This type of sword is probably hard to cut with. As far as i estimate the CoP, or secondary node, is quite low on the edge so you have trouble cutting with the tip. But the tip is wickedly stiff and sharp, you could probably impale anything fleshy really easy. Anyway, I know pretty much nothing about sword characteristics or about handling swords so I won't say anything more.

The sword to my eye looks perfect, almost too perfect, everything is fitted and finished very well!

My proper camera has no batteries atm so I used crappy cell phone cam, sorry for the horribly high contrast images and poor lightning!







My kitchen table is really old and has these cool hand smithed nails!

Once again sorry for the crappy photos, but I couldn't wait to post them.

[Stephen Curtin]

Well its finally time for me to join the ranks of the rest of you guys as my first sword is being made as we speak.
About 18 months ago I got on the waiting list of Rob Miller over at www.castlekeep.co.uk for a custom Oakeshott
type Xa and a scabbard to go with it. I've been interested in arms and armour for years but I'm a bit of a
perfectionist so I wanted to design my own sword, so of course I had to go the custom route. Its been a long
wait and it not over yet, Rob has just started my piece so stay tuned for some pictures when it arrives.

[Gregory J. Liebau]

[Ian. M]

New to the forum, so hope I do this right! My first (and only so far) Is a budget Ewart Park bronze sword from Neil Burridge. Built the handle and scabbard, but after reading the forum realised the handle's the wrong shape
Saving up for a Limehouse one now!

Noticed many bronze swords show a dark varnish on the handles. Would this have been available in bronze age Britain?

[Toke Krebs Niclasen]

10 years ago I ordered a a set of Japanese wall hangers while ashore there.
When they arrived I held them and realised they were for decorative use only.

Last week I brought Albion's Viceroy and Vassal, respectively a 1½ hander and a falcion.
They are wonderful, I just have to figure out how to get scabbards for them.
I will start by trying to make them myself, what could go wrong?

[Nathan Robinson]

[Brian K.]

My first sword was a wallhanger, the Anduril. My first real sword was the Windlass Castillon.

[Toke Krebs Niclasen]

I had a rather unusual opportunity to handle a lot of Albion Sword before deciding.
A good thing as I found out that my hands are too wide for the viking swords. (or maybe my handling of them?)

The Vassal looks rather cleavery, but the outer 1/3 of the blade is pretty thin and it is remarkable light to handle.

[Viktor Johansson]

[Jared L.]

My first wallhanger was some katana that probably looks like a hacksaw now I got it when I was 10. My first sword was the Paul Chen Practical Viking. It's stood up to everything.

[Roger Hooper]