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Roger Hooper
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 Posted: Sat 26 Feb, 2011 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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That certainly is a beautiful pommel - deceptively simple. The finished product will be something else.
A&A has always made wonderful swords, but I think they have upped their game even more in the past few years.
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J.D. Crawford
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| Posted: Sat 26 Feb, 2011 8:39 pm Post subject: Re: Symbols |
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| Craig Johnson wrote: | | In a way, the most striking question to me, is why are these not far more common? Why is such a powerful symbol of the period seen so rarely? |
This is something I've been wondering about too (although it is evidently more common in Art than in actual survivals). The simple explanation is that these particular swords had hand-and-half grips (the one we are replicating is on the short side of their handle range) and this shape of pommel likely did not make a comfortable grip for the second hand (I am guessing, since I have not tried it yet). However that does not explain why type O pommels did not appear earlier (or did they?), why they did not last longer in single-hand swords, and overall why such an attractive design with apparent religious significance has so few survivals.
In the absence of more specific historic knowledge (which unfortunately I do not have about this era and area of Europe), I'm still tempted toward romantic speculation - that this design had some exclusive, perhaps mystical connotation that might have gone out of fashion or gone underground after the violent suppression of the Templars.
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Peter Johnsson
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sun 27 Feb, 2011 12:53 am Post subject: |
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Craig,
That is a very beautiful sword :-)
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Craig Johnson
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sun 27 Feb, 2011 9:20 am Post subject: Ahh shucks |
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| Peter Johnsson wrote: | Craig,
That is a very beautiful sword :-) |
Thank you my friend, that is very nice of you to say.  I feel honored by such a compliment. I should have some pics of the finished sword up in a day or two if things go smoothly, for a once.
Craig
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Maurizio D'Angelo
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| Posted: Mon 28 Feb, 2011 10:35 am Post subject: |
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it's nice to see two competitors who are also friends.
it's nice to see two students working together. Bravi
Ciao
Maurizio
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J.D. Crawford
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 6:11 am Post subject: |
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And here it is in final form - quite possibly (to my knowledge so far) the first modern replica of a type O pommel sword.
After so much verbage and build-up (mainly from me) I will let Craig's first set of pictures speak for themselves. I expect he'll be sending some more of the artistically posed variety that he does so well, so check back again later!
PS - don't miss the full-length blade shot at the bottom - I don't think it will show in the preview.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 10:04 am Post subject: |
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Really nice work and the pics do show off the concave bottom of the pommel very well and something rarely understood from the typical reference book pics that only show side views of the pommel and often in very old pics of low resolution or grainy.
Craig did a fantastic job on this sword.  
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Scott Kowalski
Location: Oak Lawn, IL USA Joined: 24 Nov 2006
Posts: 818
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 10:20 am Post subject: |
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Simply superb. Congratulations to J.D. for commissioning such a beautiful sword as well as to Craig and the rest of the A&A gang for crafting this! I look forward to hearing a review of it J.D.
Chris Landwehr 10/10/49-1/1/09 My Mom
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Tim Lison
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 11:19 am Post subject: |
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Moriarty! Great work from Craig as always. This sword is sooooo cool! Everything is just right. Congrats JD on yet another winner.
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J.D. Crawford
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 11:30 am Post subject: |
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Thanks guys on behalf of Craig and his team. I will definitely add a mini-review when I get my hands on it (although I'm having a hard time seeing anything not to love). It may take 1-2 weeks, depending how long customs holds it at the border.
-JD
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Roger Hooper
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 11:40 am Post subject: |
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That is a beautiful, unique sword. It will be interesting to see how it handles.
We need more pictures!
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Bill Grandy
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 12:00 pm Post subject: |
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Fantastic! That's really a sword to be envious of.
HistoricalHandcrafts.com
-Inspired by History, Crafted by Hand
"For practice is better than artfulness. Your exercise can do well without artfulness, but artfulness is not much good without the exercise.” -anonymous 15th century fencing master, MS 3227a
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| J.D. Crawford wrote: | It may take 1-2 weeks, depending how long customs holds it at the border.
-JD |
Yeah, Customs is usually not a problem but usually does slow things down depending on if the package gets the 30 second rubber stamp treatment or languishes for 3 to 10 days at Customs before they have a look at it.
The fastest I have had something arrive for shipping time to at my door was maybe a miraculous 5 days but the usual average is 7 to 10 working days. ( Weekends and holidays can add a couple of days to the whole process ).
One in three times the package gets released without any taxes to be paid: It's also a " crap shoot " and is because of the high volumes of shipping between the U.S.A. and Canada so many packages are just " waived through ": If all shipments where stopped, accessed and taxed the whole economy would ground down to a crawl !
Somewhat Off Topic but just general information that might be useful I hope.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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J.D. Crawford
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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I've had similar experiences Jean. One thing I still don't understand is how customs tax works - I think I've sent about 10 swords south of the border and never heard about anyone getting taxed, but I've had more than that coming this way and about 2/3 of them had customs charges, even when made in USA. I've been told you can appeal it, but seems like a bother. Last time I ordered from A&A I was not taxed, so I hope its the same this time. -JD
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| J.D. Crawford wrote: | | I've had similar experiences Jean. One thing I still don't understand is how customs tax works - I think I've sent about 10 swords south of the border and never heard about anyone getting taxed, but I've had more than that coming this way and about 2/3 of them had customs charges, even when made in USA. I've been told you can appeal it, but seems like a bother. Last time I ordered from A&A I was not taxed, so I hope its the same this time. -JD |
Well, since there are no Customs Duties between the U.S.A. ( As far as I know ) because of the Freetrade agreement what we pay are Federal and Provincial sales taxes that the Customs people collect when things are imported from the U.S.A. but if the U.S. Customs don't collect any sales taxes, if there are any depending on the State, the shipments from Canada don't get taxed or any duties to pay from Canada.
Now, from other countries with which Canada doesn't have a free trade agreement there might be duties.
My first job was doing customs clearance for a large University in the early 1970's and in those days everything had a different custom duty i.e. books, chemical, tools, metals ...... a different % of duty depending on what it was or where it came from and this probably was very time wasting and costly to both the Canadian and American economies as well as costing individuals a lot of money in duties and a lot of money on brokerage fees to get their stuff out of Customs in both directions.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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J.D. Crawford
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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And here are the artistic photos...enjoy.
This might be a good time to say some thanks:
- thanks to Marko Aleksić for writing and sharing the article that was used as inspiration for this sword
- thanks to everyone who contributed photos, ideas, and comments to this thread.
- thanks to Nathan Robininson for contributing through the 'pay it forward' contest
- thanks especially to Craig and all the guys at A&A for putting together this amazing sword and sharing their process with us.
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Jeremy V. Krause
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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Congratulations!
That's a really handsome sword! I'm eager to see some specs. and to read how it handles.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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With all the attention the unique pommel is receiving that blade must be feeling neglected.   
Just saying that it does look like a really nice blade and the very wide guard also gives the sword a unique and attractive aesthetic: Congratulations again on having the good taste to have such an underrepresented sword made and congratulations to Craig and the A & A team on great execution of the design.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Paul Watson
Location: Upper Hutt, New Zealand Joined: 08 Feb 2006
Posts: 395
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| Posted: Fri 04 Mar, 2011 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Awesome sword, I like seeing aspects that are less represented in modern production being made. The cruciform swords with extra wide guards always look good, and the pommel on this one also adds to it's appeal. Nice riser configuration, and the profile of the blade makes it look very powerful.
I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, but that which it protects. (Faramir, The Two Towers)
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J.D. Crawford
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| Posted: Sat 05 Mar, 2011 8:02 am Post subject: |
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Here are Craig's Stats on this sword:
OL: 40.2in/1021mm
BL: 33.9in/862mm
BW at Hilt: 2in/50mm
Grip L: 4.6in/117mm
GW: 10.3in/261mm
PW: 4.5in/114mm
Center of Gravity: 5in/127mm in front of guard
Weight: 3.1lbs/1425g
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