[David Keith Hagler]

Hi, friends.
It sure is nice to find a place like this.
The features on this site are fantastic. Just wanted to say thank's for the hard work I know all of this involved.
I've been tied up with armour so much, I have not had the chance to give many sword sites a second glance lately. But I'm glad I did this time.

On to the subject matter.

The post about the redone Arbedo sword was great. Wonderful job and well done!

Basically, as that post was originally pertaining to said gentleman's project, I thought another post on the basis behind this potential hobby would be somewhat in order.
Speaking from the most basic experience, I've often found myself aging armour, swords, and weapons of most types.
What caught me, and what is most amazing, is that there is actually people on this board that like, or have found themselves doing this too.
And even more amazing, is that most of my projects are MRL's also.
Which reminds me that I have to finish MY Arbedo also. If that's not weird enough!
I will (hopefully) end up with a blood-burgandy-red grip, and blued furniture with an old-gun look.
Also, the scabbard will actually require a complete overhaul, in as far as refitting and covering with burgandy leather, and handmade fittings.

So, as I have found like-minded people here, I suppose I will stay for the chat in the future, and hopefully I will learn more than I know now, and maybe teach what I do know. The latter part of which I am seldomly good at.

So, lets here about some aging or re-doing's! Like, why do it?
Of course, for me, it's fun.
But, could this be a start to something that is catching on?

And thank's again for the great site.
DavidKH

Fireside Armoury
http://www.firesidearmoury.com

[Allan Senefelder]

Hi David ,


As you've probably gathered the focus here is more on swords . But the aging armour thing is something i've always wanted to monkey around with but never had time ( you know that phenominon where the to do list is always
slightly longer than the days to do it in ) . I stopped by the site quick hoping to see a piece that you'd aged in the
gallery . If you get a chance to slap up a photo i'd really dig taking a peak at your results .

[David Keith Hagler]

Yes,
actually, swords are what I was speaking of.
Our site is still a little under development, but we will have new products posted soon, along with custom made swords. And yes, they are completely made here at the armoury. But we only do about one a month, so, it'll be slow.
About the aged armour, I plan on putting some photo's of that up real soon, along with an aged sword or two.
Enough of that, I hate sounding like an advertisement.

What I like about re-doing the mrl's is that they are fairly "cheap", and actually, when they arrive, they are only really in the beginning stages of being a reasonably good to excellent sword.
Depends on how you look at swords though.
True utilitarian and reasonably historical, or the sword that one would be afraid to get wet.
I like things that are low maintenance myself.
Having cleaned dirty armour as much as I have my kitchen floor, it's a great thing to have swords to take the work-haul too.
Many originals were as well made or even lesser quality to be honest.
Notice, the good ones are in the books (the ones we have all seen) and the black sheep are in the back room.

But all of that is beside this topic.
Originally, I was curious of other peoples methods of aging and re-doing mrl's or similar priced pieces.
Mostly as it could, more than likely, turn into a fairly good hobby for some, who, like me, are never really fully satisfied with the laquered pieces that come out of the box.
I might even start a webpage based solely on this subject.

Although, I am obviously worried about the frauds, and the blame that a person could get for doing this stuff, while actually not meaning to hurt anyone in the process. As in faux pieces falling into uneducated hands. And even worse, someone paying $3000 for one.
This has alway's been a curse upon the modern makers, either of armour or swords. But one that has it's good points.
Selling aged pieces and new-look pieces together is an obvious recipe for curious looks.

I'll keep mine.

But, back to the mrl's, I sure would like to think of this as a great hobby, that most can do, on a basic budget.

Just thinking aloud.
D

[Tom Carr]

i'm planning to age all my MRL's after New Years. It will give the old home a more historic aire! As for my way of aging, i've descibed the Vineger method. It works very well and when coupled with authenic insciptions found on swords of the same time period, you get a lot of looks! I also have adapted all my replicas in some way, so they don't look like everyone else's! Heat blueing the guards, reshaping the guard,new grips, changing the tip profile,changing the profile taper and the edge profile! All these small changes also have the effect of custom fitting the piece to my personal taste and improving performance. Some have been quite radically changed, some less so! But all have been a improvement in my humble opinion. I have taken inexpensive swords, with some limitations and turned them into frightingley effective weapons! My Ulrich, which gets a nod as a OK basic starter longsword, now will cut thru heavy carpet rolls with ease and still cut soft targets afterwards like it was just sharpened! It beat my CS Grosse Messer on the carpet rolls! I changed the edge profile and shortened it by 1 inch, then tapered the tip to an acute point. And for those that might say it might break at the tang, I inspected it before hand and the tang is Very beefy. The threads are part of the tang and not a welded on rod.
Really weird that 2 of the best swords I have cost less than $100 total.
But I still want Trims,and A&A 's and Armour Class and and and A Vince Evans. God help my bank account!