[Dan P]

Last week I got a box from Ben Potter of Privateer Armoury in the mail. It's not a very big box; not even arming-sword sized.


It's my first real custom sword, like, ever. Although in fairness I have a very nice rapier and dagger from Darkwood Armory, which are both built off standard hilt designs on their website. This is original. OAL about 25", blade 20" weight about a pound. Grip's green cord wrap tied in a double fencer's knot.


It's a very small, lightweight sword. My first thought when scribbling the original design down on paper was "Cinquedea" but I'm not quite sure that's the precise term... anyway worrying about words is pointless when the sword is this nice. Construction is absolutely solid. There's no massive solid pommel (partly my suggestion, partly inspired by other swords in the Privateer line), so the POB is about 1.5" in front of the guard.

Privateer Armoury blades are made from thin stock. I knew this before ordering. Here's my attempt to compare the blade stock with that of my Spyderco pocket knife... the knife blade is winning by a little bit here.

On this 20" blade there is very little whippiness. I've flexed the blade a considerable degree and it returns true. That was a little hair raising since it's as razor sharp as a sword should get and perfectly double-edged. So far the only things I've cut are cardboard boxes and bananas on stands, since there is three feet of snow outside and bananas were on sale.

Talking to Ben Potter about this project was great. From my rough sketch and a couple of questions he made exactly the kind of sword I wanted. Price and turnaround time were great. There are production swords out there that cost much more than this one that I have handled, that look really nice on a web picture but are far less appealing than this custom.
Privateer Armoury