[Joshua Waters]

Hello all, I just now joined this forum but I have been visiting it for a few years now.
But I have a question, I am looking at buying a sword from Kovex Ars, but I cannot find any recent reviews of their swords, all of the reviews I find are about five years old or more.
And all of these old reviews range from very good, to very bad.
So does anyone have any recent experience with their swords?

Here is their web site. http://www.kovexars.cz/index.php

[Marik C.S.]

First of all welcome.

From my experience, the Kovex blades are damn near indestructible, but rather basic and quite heavy. Balance isn't too shoddy, but if you are after a HEMA blunt I'd go with Fabri Armourum rather than Kovex.

It's about the same price range (if you are fine with using the basic stuff) and on average better quality&handling. They are also easier to obtain in the US via Kultofathena I gather, shipping with Kovex might be a bit trickier.

Kovex is very much geared towards the German Tourist market, they set-up camp on just about every Medieval Faire around here and just as with all other Tourist weapons, the stuff sold there might not be the highest of quality which can make for very mixed reviews.
I've had a sparring partner ask at one of their booths where they keep the nice swords and he got handed one from below the counter, so for obvious reasons they might try to fence off the very basic swords to unknowing tourists and parents of annoying children who really want a sword

[Joshua Waters]

Thank you very much Marik that was very helpful.
But I think I am going to end up going with the Kovex Ars sword because I also want a few of the axes they have.
And the Fabri sword I want seems to be forever back ordered on KoA.
But I probably will end up getting a Fabri also; it just depends when KoA gets the one I want back in stock.

[Jeroen T]

I've handled lots of kovex swords.

Kovex swords are durable Hema/reeanactment swords for a fair price.
The finish is basic and a bit rough but you get what you pay for.

They are usually not the lightest swords but almost all of them have a good balance.
They tend to be pretty well hardened and eat up other makers swords.
People claim that Kovex in the past made better swords but i haven't found anyone who is not satisfied with there Kovex blade.

I've seen a couple of figths between Kovex blades where the sparks literally came of the blades, awesome to look at.

A friend of mine has a new Kovex singlehander that is a bit ligther and thinner.
A great piece to handle but that's the first Kovex sword if seen that sometimes stays bend a bit.
It's normal because you don't want a trainingsword to break so you need to make a choice between hard/stiff and tough.

Here in Europe Kovex attends a lot of festivals and what most people do is mail them to take along a couple of swords they like. And then they try them out on such festivals.

So basically from my experience i have no problem recommending Kovex.

[Vadim Senicheff]

I really love Kovex.
But.

We (Moscow SSG group) bougth 3 swords on Grunwald'10 and we broke two longswords in first year - they are not quite hard enougth for real armored full-contact. But for hema and stuff they are wery good and nice in hand. Mine is still alive, I use it not so often.

I would really like to purchase one more from this shop, really. They make them not as accurate replicas but in all the right parameters and proportions. Quite heavy, but it's good.

Also, watch out for caverns on steel. They look cool, but it's a wery bat thing - it means that steel is of a poor quality.

[Leo Rousseau]

Hi !

My re-enactment group have been using Kovex over the past 5 years and, we have observe a decline in the overall quality. I bought my viking sword from him 4 years ago, I use it intensively every week (HEMA, stage fighting and full contact) and the edges start just to have some small dents. however some people of the group have bought their sword from him less than a year ago, their sword are already full of dents and the pommel is moving. One of the sword have also a crack in in the tang. So I would have recommended Kovex some years ago, but not today. In the same range of Price you could go to Fabri Armorum (Jiri Krondak) or even better : Viktor Berbekucz.

[Joe Pittman]

Years ago I wanted these. Polish and Hunish Sabers. Munitons grade was ok with me but I just couldnt go without hands on experience.

[Joshua Waters]

Thank you all very much for the feedback, it has been very useful in helping me make a decision on purchasing one their swords.
I have been talking with Mr. Miroslava Jelinkova the owner of Kovex Ars and he has been very polite and helpful in answering my questions.
And so when I receive my order I plan on doing a review for the sword and axes, so that I might help other people choose if they would like to do business with them, like you all have helped me, thank you.

[Radovan Geist]

Hi Joshua. It´s certainly she - Ms Miroslava Jelinkova. It´s a female name:) Unless somebody is using someone else´s email account. But that´s just a detail.
Just some additional info: Kovex is around for quite long and as far as I can say their swords have been used in stage-fencing community here in Slovakia and Czech Rep (I believe, guys from Kovex are doing stage fencing themselves). Few years back they had a reputation of durable blades, but some people disliked their rough finish and questionable historical authenticity of their pieces.
For some years now they say that they have changed their designs and some production methods. From a visual point of view, I´d say that their products have improved, but the finish is still quite rough - but I can only tell it from their website, and a vague memories of seeing them on some Ren-fairs.
Good luck with your purchase and I´d be very interested in your reviews.

[Joshua Waters]

Oops, sorry about the mess up with the name, I am not very familiar with east European languages.
Thanks for pointing that out though.
And I do hope my review will go well also (it will be my first review on here).
Do you have any advice for information I should include with the review?