Sooo.......It's been a few days now.(note date of post) Anyone have any pics of the tang? I'm in the 'day late and a dollar short' crowd and waiting on KOA to get more in stock. :cry: :lol: I know some of you guys must have gotten one and dismantled it by now....cause you guys are 'just thataway' ! :lol: ..........McM

Well, I talked a friend into purchasing one of these blades. I was quite happy to see( as was my friend) at the level of quality for the price. The laminations are nice the finish is pretty darn good and the handling was way better than I had hoped. IMO, one of the best buys out hands down. Yes, you will need to do some work on it if your looking to dress it in a more historical fashion but the blade is really pretty remarkable for a rough $140. I will be doing some work on my friends as well as one for myself.

My friend Ken Speed just took off the handle on his seax and he tells me it looks very good and robust.

The handle is pinned and glued on and very difficult to remove, so no blade flying out of the handle by accident likely to happen if they are all like this.

Ken told me he will try to post a pic of the tang some time soon.

My seax just arrived I just had a quick look at it and removed the bamboo pin, but the handle seems either very tight or also glued in, so I will have to destroy the handle to take it off. The wood isn't very hard, but also not very soft, so if one wanted to keep it one could just re-profile it a bit and cover it with a leather wrap/cover.

For those not wanting to make a new handle a little reshaping mostly removing wood on the butt end, that although not a bad idea from a functional point of view, the handle doesn't look very historical for a seax

Long blade with lots of presence and more of a langseax in length than a smaller knife like seax.

I would at the very least make the handle somewhat slimmer in the middle and larger at the butt and near the blade and then cover it with leather

The scabbard part seems very usable, fits firmly to the blade, but has a lot of extra meat one can remove from it before covering it with leather, but no real need to make a scabbard core from scratch.

The blade looks really nice and a bit of patination/cold bluing/light polishing might show up the pattern welding more. The blade is paper cutting sharp as received and a few passes with a diamond hone has made it very sharp.

The blade is fairly long and has some presence due to the handle being very light: This is good for chopping cuts but the blade is still light enough to make it very fast.

I guess I will have to write a DIY Topic with pics after I finish making a new handle for it, so far it seems like a very good buying decision.

Great to hear, Jean! I was hoping the tang would be ample and long. The blade IS glued, as well as pinned. I'm interested in seeing just what method works best to really, reeally bring out the patterning in the blade. I'll most likely use the existing wood scabbard but with a great deal of shaping, sanding, and leather wrap. I just gotta have an antler handle, though! :D ......Good luck with yours,Jean....and the rest of you. I know this most versatile package will lend itsself to many fine custom jobs, and I can't wait to see them! :D .........McM

I am betting that folks will do some really impressive stuff with this very affordable blade.

I look forward to seeing forumites get crafty! :D

I'm sorry to disappoint people but it looks like I need to brush up on posting photos here. Jean and I agreed that he'd post a pic of the tang here fairly soon.

Here is how I removed the grip from the seax blade:

THE VERY FIRST THING I DID WAS I COVERED THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE BLADE WITH BLUE TAPE! I don't mean to yell at people but the blade is very sharp and could be extremely dangerous if it got away while someone was working on it especially with power tools. I drilled out the dowel on both sides of the handle until I cold see metal. Then I clamped the blade securely in a vise with blocks of scrap wood protecting the blade and used a beater chisel to split the handle at the barely perceptible glue line and then turned the seax over and split the handle the same way from the bottom and pried the halves of the grip off. It was much harder to remove than I expected it to be; the adhesive they use is very strong. It's the work of a minute to remove the remainder of the dowel after the grip halves have been removed.

The tang is about five inches long, 1 1/16" wide, and 1/4" thick and tapers to about 3/16" thick at the end. It is very substantial and much beefier than the tangs on many swords. Either the tang was left slightly rough or was roughed up a bit to provide better grip for the adhesive.

Great to hear, Ken. I have no doubt that this offering from KC is going to bring about a massive influx of cool customs. I equate this to a custom project thread on SBG(?) not too long ago involving Cold Steel Tomahawks. There were some GREAT custom 'hawks made in response....especially some really neat NorseHawks. I can't wait to see the first runic inscriptions that owners add. :D ...This is just too cool. :D .....Good luck , guys!......McM

Non pattern welded version in stock now, same dimensions roughly but thirty bucks less:

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...tlery+Seax

Keep those home builds coming! I hope, too, that Kris Cutlery starts offering other goodies in this format (I wanna see a big stinkin' bauernwehr !).

Ahh...It just keeps gettin' better n' better...eh, Eric? I think this is one fan-freakin'-tastic idea by Kris. Long now have we all seen this style and method of construction offered for Eastern weapons, but this is a first for Euro-blades. I, personally, still hold out for the folded-steel version...but the new plain carb-steel version will no doubt be a boon to blunt reenactors! And.......It'd be a hella-tough sharpie in a pinch. Exactly what a seax was meant for. Pure function..low cost..100% success...I think Valhalla is full of smiling faces now. :D .......McM

Hey, I was wondering what happened with this thread I've wanted one of these sense they came out and are still on back order I want to make a hunting sword with this blade, its a great looking project blade from the looks of it anybody make anything of it yet ?
dose it hold up to hard use ? would it make A good woods knife ? your replies are worth reading to me I find this short sword very interesting. thanks

I was just wondering the same thing myself, Robert! Some of you lucky buyers out there must have done something with one of them. Me.....still waiting on KOA to get more in stock. I guess I could find one in stock elsewhere, but I just really don't want to order from anyone else. Glad you brought this back to light, Robert. C'mon guys!!! Pictures!! Reviews!! Cutting demos!! :lol: .........McM

Great to hear, Jean! I know you'll do something cool with it! We'll be waiting.... :D ......McM

I hope that kult of athena gets more of these in soon but in the mean time has anyone really used there's yet anyone baton wood or use it with some intent I would like to know if the steel holds up at all for its price range museum replicas just released a new dirk in damascus that might be good for custom work should I wait it out or start a dirk project?

Well...I just thought I'd drum up a oldie-but-goodie thread and see if anyone has anything new to offer! Jean? Anyone? I've got my request in at KOA for a folded blade....but still no dice. As fast as Kris seemingly sold out of these, one would think they'd take a hint. "Please sir, may I have some more?" Progress pictures anyone? Anyone have one for sale? I'm having withdrawls here folks! :lol: ...Thanks.........McM

I just bought one of these today. Has anyone done any mods or custom work to one of these? Would like to see some pictures to get some ideas. Thinking about reforming the handle by belt sanding it.

I'm still just fudging and waiting on the best deal....KOA should have some soon, I hope. I've got an old India-made pom and guard in brass, and a big piece of moose antler in mind for a grip. I will most likely weld and reforge a tang extension on. Mine WILL be peened, not glued. Glad to see this come up again....this is too cool to just brush off! I, myself, cannot wait to see cool customs made from these!..............McM

Kris Cutlery only has 2 left of the folded steel and 3 of the plain steel. I asked about KoA and only got the response that they were available to buy from Kris. They didn't even say anything about KoA. So not sure if they are getting any, or soon.