[Russ Ellis]

I had never seen anything from this maker before or heard about him even so I thought I might post a little bit about this sword that passed through my hands recently.

The sword was built by a Mr. Harold Squire of Vermont. I'm afraid I don't know much more about him then that other then he apparently is associated with the SCA. Perhaps others here have more information?

In any respect here are the vital statistics on the sword:

Overall length: 48.5 inches
Blade length: 36.5 inches
POB: 4 inches from cross
Weight: 4.4 lbs
Pommel: G
Cross: 3
Blade: XIIa

Performance: As this was a customer's sword I could not cut with it and as the blade was rebated I guess not much cutting could be done anyway. As you can see from the statistics it is a big brute and handles like one. It is definitely not one of the more agile swords that I've ever handled. I imagine it would be devastating when hitting heavy targets but I would not want to try to fight with it.

Aesthetics: The blade and fuller are fairly well done, nicely finished symmetrical etc. The blade has the legend "In
Nomine Domine" acid etched on the blade. The fittings were of bronze and were rather rudimentary. The cross was a thick tapered thing and the pommel was fully an inch thick, with a heart inscribed on it. The handle wrap was leather with a wire twist around it and was nicely done.

One thing that puzzled me was that there seemed to be some sort of inclusions in the edge of the blade. The blade was mirror polished but these areas were a dull matte grey color. I've never seen anything exactly like it. In fact at first I thought perhaps the blade had been chromed and what I was seeing was the metal underneath.

All in all it appears that this maker has potential his blades are already nice but he needs to work on his fittings and general sword mechanics.

[Russ Ellis]

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